Delving Into The Mysteries Of The Past
by Morgana Maeve
Summary: A.U. Kagome has spent the last eight years not knowing who the father of her son Horeshio is and why she can't remember the year between her sixteenth and seventeeth birthdays. But is it best to leave what's forgotten forgotten?
1. Chapter 1

Delving Into The Mysteries Of The Past

Yami 396

Okay, this is my second story. I kind of lost inspiration on _This Year Might Just Be A Little Different_, but I haven't given up on it yet. Anyways, this one is a bit darker than my previous one and there's going to be a lot more angst in this one. It may go OOC a little bit too. It's in Kagome's POV. You no like, you no read. Once again, I don't tolerate flames and I will use any to firebomb the poor fool's house. You have been warned.

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or any characters in it. I own Horeshio, Mitsu, Samisu, and Anasuteijia, and I hope to buy Sesshoumaru-sama from Rumiko Takahashi…

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Prologue (Kagome and Mitsu)

A cool September breeze passed outside, making the screen door rattle as I watched two of my young children enjoy the last few summer days before school started again. Samisu, with his dark bangs falling into his eyes, ran after Anasuteijia, who desperately tried to avoid her older brother's outstretched hand and his crows of "You're it!" Samisu had his father's facial features with my hair color and light brown eyes. Anasuteijia had her father's light brown hair and his dark eyes. I smiled. They reminded me of when I was younger, running around without a care in the world. The smile faded however, when I noticed a flash of silver in the tree above them. My third child and the oldest at eight, Horeshio, was an enigma, even to me. He kept himself aloof most of the time, and the most he said to his brother and sister were monosyllables. He didn't look like them either. While Samisu and Anasuteijia had completely dark hair, Horeshio had silver streaks in his, and his eyes had amber flecks in them. His facial features were more defined than my husbands or mine. Horeshio seemed more aware of his surroundings than his siblings; more acute to little things, as if he could hear things others couldn't. But that wasn't what worried me. What worried me the most was that I couldn't recall where he came from. I knew he was my son, his dark hair testified to that, but as to who the father was, I was in the dark. That subject was strictly taboo. Any mention of it would turn into hard stares and a quick change of subject. Not even my mother would tell me who his father was.

Perhaps, this was done out of shame. I was reckless when I was sixteen, and I became pregnant sometime during that year. I don't remember how, and I certainly don't remember by whom; all I can remember is being in a hospital bed with a grim-faced doctor telling me I was pregnant. And the shock in my mother's face. And then the look of shame as the doctor whispered something into her ear. That I can never forget that, even if I wanted to. The way she looked at me as if I was the biggest disappointment in the world.

But how could I be a disappointment if I didn't even know how I became pregnant? The year between my sixteenth birthday and my seventeenth are all a blur to me. Anything that happened in that year is gone. I stared at the spot where Horeshio was brooding in his tree, lost in thought.

"What are you looking so down about, Kagome?" The voice by my ear made me jump. "Whoops, didn't mean to scare you." Mitsu, my husband of four years grinned at me.

"You didn't scare me," I lied.

"You look upset, what's the matter?" he asked again.

"I was just thinking about Horeshio, that's all," I replied. Mitsu's face hardened for a moment and then relaxed.

"I'm worried about that boy," he said. "Sometimes I think we should send him away for treatment." I gasped.

"You can't do that!" I screeched. "He's not crazy!" Instantaneously, Mitsu's arms were around my shoulders, trying to calm me down.

"I'm not saying he's crazy, Kagome-chan," he began. "He just needs help opening up to others," he finished, pulling me into a hug.

"Maybe that's just his personality," I mumbled into his shoulder. "Maybe that's how his father was." Mitsu's muscles tensed, and I realized I had treaded into forbidden territory.

"Stop worrying about his father," he said, his voice hard. I flinched. His tone softened. "I mean, it was just a mistake in the past, right? There's nothing you can do about it now."

"I wish I could remember that mistake," I said bitterly. You don't know how annoying it is to have a hole in your memory." Mitsu pulled away.

"Don't stress yourself trying to remember. You've gone eight years without it bothering you," he said. Actually it was more like command and it did bother those eight years, but I didn't say anything.

"It's time for dinner," I said flatly and called my three children in.

"What's wrong with mommy?" Anasuteijia asked Mitsu later at the dinner table.

"Her work is stressing her out a little bit," Mitsu answered. Horeshio looked up.

"It's not work," he said.

"Don't you think that you're father knows your mother better than you do?" Mitsu asked him, one eyebrow raised. Horeshio shrugged.

"You're not my father," was all he said, before he returned to his mashed potatoes.

"You're mean," Samisu proclaimed as he stuck out his tongue at his older brother.

"No fighting at the dinner table," I said without much conviction. I was lost in my own thoughts about swirling colors and sharp pains. I closed my eyes, and for one instant, I saw someone with long silver hair and golden eyes before he disappeared into darkness. I gasped.

"What happened?" Mitsu asked me, concerned.

"Nothing, nothing," I said, waving it away. "I just remembered I didn't pay the bills." Mitsu snorted quietly to himself, mumbling about 'the qualms of women.' I glared at him, and tried to forget the image, but it had burned itself completely into my mind.

Later that night, any dreams I had were restless, and the last dream I remember was that of falling with trees swirling all around me, and finally a sharp pain in the base of my skull before I woke up drenched in cold sweat.

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It's confusing, ne? And short too. Oh well, I didn't want to drag on the prologue too much. The story will become clearer once the first chapter sets in. Be patient and I warn you, it will get angsty.


	2. The Past

Chapter 1: Past

Yami 396

This has got to be the first time I've gotten a review without having to wait 14 hours. I'm so happy! Now to answer some questions:

Evil Liar: No, I didn't make up the names except for Samisu and Mitsu. Horeshio is the Japanese way of saying Horacio Anasuteijia is the Japanese way of saying Anastasia. Thanks for the review and telling me it wasn't confusing.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this chapter. I want to own Sesshoumaru-sama, but he doesn't like me…

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Kagome at age 16)

I felt myself start to shrink beneath the hard glare of my older sister, Kikyo. As much as I hated it, she scared me with those cold blue eyes that could see right into anyone's soul.

"How did this happen," she said, pausing between each word as if it would punctuate her anger even more than her glare had done.

"I swear, I didn't mean to. Honestly!" I began. She cut me off.

"That doesn't explain how this happened," she said. I clenched my hands.

"I took my eyes off of the Shikon No Tama for five minutes," I said. "And before I knew it, this crow demon snatched it up and flew away with it. I was trying to get it back, so I fired an arrow at it and it must have hit the jewel too because the next thing I knew, there's an explosion of light, and when I went to find the jewel, all I could find was this," I held a small sliver of the jewel.

"Do you know what you have done?" Kikyo snapped.

"I shattered the Sacred Jewel," I said, immediately wishing I hadn't when Kikyo's eyes flashed blue fire.

"You have just single handedly caused the biggest battle in this war yet," she informed me, as if I didn't know the dire consequences already.

I couldn't blame Kikyo for being angry with me. Our family had guarded the Shikon No Tama for generations. We needed to keep it safe from demons, especially in this state of time. When I turned ten, the Demonic Revolution began. At first it was just a few demons attacking humans, trying to regain some land back. But after a demonic genocide that killed thousands of demons, it became a full time war. Most demons killed any human that got in their way, and humans killed demons for revenge. It was an endless cycle of death and destruction that left no one untouched.

My own father was killed when I was eleven. I was there. We were walking along the border of the forest by my house when a demon shot out straight towards us. My father jumped in front of me and saved my life. It all happened so quickly that I could only see a flash of silver and a pair of horrible blood-red eyes. I don't know why the demon didn't kill me after it was done with my father. It left quickly, leaving me crying out for my father until my Great-Aunt Kaede found me and took me away from the sight.

"Are you even listening to me!" Kikyo's voice snapped me out of my painful reverie. I shook my head meekly. She sighed.

"I told mother you were too young to handle the responsibility of the Sacred Jewel. I told her not to leave it with you. I told her we should bring it with us, that I could kill any demon trying to get it, but she wouldn't listen. Now look what's happened," she said, pacing around the room. I felt myself become angry.

"Well I'm sorry that I'm such a disappointment!" I yelled. "I'm sorry that I broke the jewel! I'll go look for the pieces!"

"Do you think it's really that simple?" Kikyo said, her voice deadly quiet. "Do you think you can go around in a day and find all the pieces? Do you know how many demons probably have shards right now?" I froze. Kikyo had a point. And every time she had a point, she made me feel like I was nothing.

"Ye two need to stop bickering and try to find the jewel!" Great-Aunt Kaede spoke from the doorway. "We've already recovered one piece and the person that was trying to steal it." She dragged in a boy about Kikyo's age with long black hair and dark eyes. He had a sword at his belt that looked as if it was ancient. Kikyo raised an eyebrow.

"A human?" she asked.

"So it seems," Great-Aunt Kaede replied. She turned to the boy. "Why did ye want the jewel shard?" He didn't answer her; he kept glaring at the ground. Great-aunt Kaede asked him again, "What were ye going to do with the shard? Are ye in league with the demons?"

A few power hungry humans often allied themselves with demons, often with disastrous endings. But the more I looked at the boy; the more I felt that he wasn't in league with them. There was something about him that said he was too proud for that. He raised his head.

"Why should I tell you anything hag?" he said to her, audaciously. I stifled a laugh. No one spoke to Great-Aunt Kaede like that, and it was refreshing to hear.

"Ye life depends on ye answer," she replied. The boy smirked.

"I wanted the jewel shard because it was there and it was broken. And no, I'm not in league with the demons. I don't need them," he answered. He turned to me, as if noticing for the first time I was there in the room. "What are you staring at wench?" I flushed at being caught staring at some strange boy I knew nothing about.

"You took the jewel shard back?" Kikyo asked Great-Aunt Kaede. She nodded. "May I suggest something?" Kikyo went on when she nodded again. "Since he is just a human and doesn't seem like a threat, and Kagome is the one that broke the jewel shard, maybe they should both work together in finding all the shards as punishment."

"Feh! Are you sure you want to trust me? What if I turn into a threat?" The boy challenged Kikyo.

"Then I'll kill you," Kikyo replied calmly, effectively shutting him up.

"You want me to partner up with some strange boy to find the jewel shards?" I exploded. "Are you crazy! What if he turns out to be some kind of homicidal maniac?"

"Hey!" the boy complained at the last remark.

"I don't even know his name!" I finished.

"That can be arranged," Kikyo said. "What's your name?" she asked him. His eyes narrowed at her and then he turned to me.

"Kage. My name is Kage," he said to me. I looked away. His eyes were like to dark pools and I couldn't look into them for long.

"That's an interesting name," I said.

"What's yours?" he suddenly asked.

"Pardon," I said, taken aback.

"Your name. What's your name?" he asked, rolling his eyes.

"Kagome," I said, making a face at him.

"Mine's better than yours," he said.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, exasperated and momentarily forgetting about Kikyo and Great-Aunt Kaede.

"My name is better than your name," he said slowly and loudly.

'_He's making fun of me!'_ I thought.

"I understand you. You don't have to waste your energy opening your mouth that widely," I snapped back at him.

"I'm sorry to burst your bubble," Kikyo intervened. "But the two of you might want to stop flirting and get ready. You have a long journey to start." I blushed.

"I wasn't flirting with him!" I yelled at the same time he yelled, "I wasn't flirting with her!" We both stared at each other.

"Like two peas in the same pod," Kikyo smirked and left. Great-Aunt Kaede took Kage with her to get changed, which left me with my thoughts.

I liked Kage. I wasn't going to deny it. He was sarcastic and rude, but he also seemed nice. And he was the only person whose eyes challenged me. Most people looked down on me, as if I were dirt. Even Great-Aunt Kaede did that when her temper ran thin. But Kage looked at me like I was his equal. I had no doubt however that we would probably fight the whole time we looked for the shards. It would be impossible not to. Not with his insults.

I had to get ready. I didn't have time to be thinking about Kage or anyone else. I searched through my wardrobe trying to find a shirt that would be sturdy enough to travel in, but not grungy enough to make me look like a bum. I also knew that I couldn't wear my usual short skirts. No, I had changed into a pair of jeans that were loose and broken in just right. If I was going to walk around for days, I might as well be comfortable. Finally I decided on a blue shirt that was loose fitting and the sleeves came down to my elbows. I had just discarded my old shirt and was about to put on the new one when my door opened and Kage looked in.

Silence.

"Ummm…" he said. My scream cut him off.

"AAIIIIEEEEEE! HENTAI!" I yelled and threw my other shirt at him.

"I'm not a hentai stupid girl!" he shouted, slamming the door. I tried to regain my lost control.

'_Okay, that was very embarrassing. Okay, it wasn't as if he did it on purpose. I am not going to kill him,' _I thought to myself. No, it wouldn't be good if I murdered my shard-hunting companion before our journey even began. I would just ignore this whole incident and forget it never happened. I opened the door. Kage stood across the hallway leaning against the wall, my shirt in his hand. He looked up when he heard the door open and blushed when he saw me.

"This is yours," he mumbled, handing me my shirt.

"Thanks," I said, tossing it in my room, looking everywhere but at him.

"Is that all you're going to wear?" he spoke. He seemed to always take me by surprise, no matter what he did or said.

"Is there something wrong with it?" "I asked him.

"No, I was wondering if you were going to wear any armor or not," he replied, looking at me. "Here. I was told to give you these." He handed me my bow and arrows.

"Do you use that sword?" I asked him while we were on the topic of weapons. I wasn't good with the sword, which was why I choose the bow and arrows. It came to me naturally.

"Sometimes," he said. I didn't want to push and he didn't seem to want to talk more about it. "C'mon, we have to go," he said finally, grabbing my hand and all but dragged me outside. Kikyo and Great-Aunt Kaede were waiting for us.

"Don't mess this up," was the goodbye we received from Kikyo, and I wasn't expecting anything less.

"Good luck," was the goodbye from Great-Aunt Kaede.

"We'll need it," Kage said.

Two days later, we weren't any closer to finding jewel shards and Kage and I were starting to get on each other's nerves.

"Can't we stop for a minute? I think I'm going to have a stroke!" I complained. It was hot, and I regretted wearing long jeans.

"Feh, women. Always complaining and moaning about how they don't want to do something," he snapped.

"Shut up," I said, tired.

"Be quiet," he said suddenly.

"What?" I asked.

"I said be quiet!" he whispered.

"Don't tell me to be quiet!" I hissed at him. He grabbed me and put a hand over my mouth.

"I mean it! Be quiet! There's something there." No sooner than he had said this, a lightning bolt shot down at us. He picked me up, and jumped out of the way.

"So you dodged that one!" A voice called out mockingly. Kage released me and we both looked up. A demon floated above us using wheels by both of his feet. He seemed human in countenance, but I sensed his demonic aura and the fact that he had three jewel shards in his head.

"Kage," I whispered. "He has three jewel shards in his head."

"Great," was his sarcastic reply.

"Two humans and two jewel shards!" the demon yelled. "Today keeps getting better!"

"Feh! Don't make any assumptions," Kage yelled up to him. "I'm full of surprises Thunder-Boy!"

"A cheeky boy you are!" the demon said. "I am Hiten, the elder of the Thunder Brothers!" I paled. I knew who the Thunder Brothers were. They were two demons, Hiten being the older and Manten being the younger, who terrorized humans and demons alike. I could only begin to imagine how Hiten had managed to get three jewel shards in such a short time.

"Why don't you come down here and fight me instead of boasting about your name?" Kage taunted him. I looked at him in a panic. Did he want to get us killed? No human stood a chance against Hiten and Manten!

"You want to hasten to your death? So be it!" Hiten moved in for the kill.

"Kagome, get out of the way and go hide yourself somewhere," Kage said. I shook my head.

"I'm not leaving you to fend for yourself!" I said back.

"Damn it Kagome! Just do what I say!" Something in his voice made me scramble up the nearest ledge and watch the ongoing battle fearfully.

Kage was a good fighter. He was able to read Hiten's moves well, which made me wonder how often Kage had to fight. The one thing that shocked me was that Kage never pulled out his sword. He used the scabbard and kept the sword sheathed. It made me wonder what would happen if he pulled it out. Or was the sword dull and couldn't be used? But that was stupid. He would have honed it back at home it that was the case. A loud yell turned my attention back to the battle. Kage had fallen, a wound at his shoulder bleeding freely. I gasped as Hiten swooped down on him, aiming for his neck. Kage wouldn't have time to block it!

"Kage!" I shouted. I didn't want to watch, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the killing in knew I was going to witness. In a second, Kage had grabbed his scabbard and unsheathed his sword. I gasped at the sudden explosion of demonic strength that emanated from Kage. Even Hiten seemed shocked; he flew back a little. There was a figure in the cloud of dust that could only be partially made out. I squinted and as the last of the dust cleared I was overjoyed to see Kage standing. My eyes widened. There was someone standing all right, but it wasn't Kage.

This person had long silver hair, about the same length as Kage's. He also had golden eyes and clawed hands. I gasped. It was a demon.

"I told you I was full of surprises," the demon yelled up to Hiten. His voice was the same as Kage's. Could it be…

"Insolent whelp! I don't know how you did that, but I'll kill you right now!" Hiten yelled as he once again swooped down on the demon with Kage's voice.

"Someone will be killed, but it won't be me!" the other demon yelled, swinging his sword. "Wind Scar!" I gasped as the attack met Hiten head on. The disappearance of his aura was enough to tell me that he had been killed. It was amazing. The silver-haired demon hadn't even touched him!

"Kagome! You can come down now!" he yelled. How did he know my name?

"K-Kage?" I asked. He smirked.

"Yeah, I'm Kage. Or at least I said I was," he replied.

"You said you were?" I asked, growing more confused by the second.

"If I told you my real name, you would have been suspicious, so I made up one," he answered nonchalantly.

"What are you?" I asked, completely at a loss of words. Kage…he…grimaced.

"I'm a half-breed," he said at a length. In my stupor, I realized he had dog-ears and they were drooping. I had the sudden urge to touch them, and before I knew it, I was in front of him, rubbing them.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" he yelled. "Stop it! I said stop….A little to the left…Ack! Stop!" I let him go.

"Now that that's out of my system," I sighed. "You're a half-breed?" I asked him.

"Yeah, go one and laugh," he said. I realized he was ashamed.

"I'm not going to laugh," I said. "That's pretty interesting actually." He looked at me in shock. "So, if Kage's not your real name, then what is?" He looked at me for a while as if trying to see if I was lying.

"InuYasha. I'm InuYasha.

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Well, there's a look into the past for ya. I know that the fight scene was really cheesy, but hey, I'm not good with them. R&R!


	3. The Present

Chapter 2: The Present

Yami 396

I'm in a C2 Community now…happiness is….

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or Kagome, only Mitsu, Samisu, Horeshio, and Anasuteijia.

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(Kagome Present Day)

Needless to say, I didn't get very much sleep that night. Between my nightmares and sudden dizzy spells, I was awake almost every other hour.

"Are you okay, Mommy?" Samisu asked me when I failed to make any kind of comment at breakfast.

"I'm fine, just a bit tired, that's all," I answered, yawning. Tired, and completely confused was more like it. That image of the silver haired boy was driving me insane. I couldn't forget it and any memory I tried to find of him only brought a throbbing headache.

"You overwork yourself too much, Kagome," Mitsu declared. "You take that job of yours too seriously."

"Running a shrine halfway across town is very serious!" I said. "You wouldn't believe how many people want replicas of the Sacred Jewel!" I froze. Something about the Sacred Jewel sparked a memory in my mind, something about it being shattered and having to find the pieces. But that was absurd. The Shikon No Tama was never shattered. It had been destroyed…or so they say…around the time of my seventeenth birthday…

"Hello, Earth to Kagome!" Mitsu waved a hand in my face. "Is anybody home?" I fought the urge to slap his hand away and instead answered in a tone I hoped did not show my exasperation.

"Yes, Mitsu? I wasn't paying attention," I said, trying to act like nothing was wrong.

"I could see that," he answered. "I was reminding you that you had an appointment with Dr. Iwata today." I had forgotten. He had been my therapist since I was seventeen. Being a teenager with a baby had been stressful, and he had helped me out in the years to follow. I still went to see him, though the days of my required therapy had long ago expired. I couldn't help but wonder if he knew anything about Horeshio's father…

"You're spacing out again," Mitsu said, and I could tell he was getting angry with me for not paying attention. "Would you like me to drive you, or would you rather drive yourself?"

"You can drive me. I might pass out behind the wheel," I said, trying to make a feeble joke. Mitsu took it the wrong way.

"If you're not feeling well, you shouldn't go out. Do you want me to cancel the appointment?" He asked, concerned.

"I was joking," I said, wearily holding up a hand to make him stop.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Mitsu."

"Positive?"

"Mitsu…"

He threw up his hands in defense. "I'm just looking out for your well-being, that's all."

"I'm fine. Don't worry," I said. I didn't like being short-tempered with him. Mitsu truly did care for me. I remember when we first met. I was twenty years old with a three-year-old Horeshio to look after, working two jobs. I couldn't afford to go to college, so instead I took night classes at the local university. He had been in my physics class and had helped me work out some formulas that had been giving me problems. Before I knew it, we were going out. He took to Horeshio right away, and didn't seem to care that I already had a child. By the time I was twenty-one, he proposed to me, and to the joy of my family, I accepted. My mother liked him from the start, and Kikyo said it was about time I married. Kikyo…she had always been mean to me. Even when we were little, she would find something wrong with me. Having a child at seventeen just added to her list of 'Why Kagome Cannot Be Trusted.'

"Sami-chan, Ana-chan, Horeshio-chan," Mitsu suddenly addressed them, looking sober. "Kagome has to take you shopping for dress clothes this weekend. We have your Great-Aunt Kaede's funeral to go to." I felt pang of sadness as he said this. I loved my Great-Aunt Kaede dearly. She had always been there for me, a support to lean on. When my father died when I was eleven, she was the one who found and sheltered me.

"The hag died?" Horeshio asked.

"Horeshio!" I scolded him. "She is not a hag! She loved you very much!"

"She reminded me of a hag," he answered back. I shook my head. Horeshio was the freshest of my children; something I knew didn't come from me.

_"Why should I tell you anything hag?" _I inhaled sharply at the sudden voice. It seemed eerily familiar somehow, like I had heard it before. I knew it's sound, but I didn't have a face to match it to. The only person I knew that would ever call Great-Aunt Kaede a hag was Horeshio. I stared at my plate, contemplating.

"Daddy, Mommy's spacing out again," Anasuteijia complained. Mitsu shrugged.

"Mommy's losing her mind," he said, earning him a rightful punch on the shoulder. "Hey! I speak only the truth!"

"Yeah, sure," I said, rolling my eyes. I was being too serious. I had to stop thinking about whatever it was that was bothering me. I was being stupid.

"What color dress am I going to wear?" Anasuteijia piped up. She was like me; we both loved to dress up. Samisu took after his father in dress sense, and Horeshio seemed to enjoy his over-sized jeans and shirts more than anything else.

"You'll have to wear black sweetie," I said, enjoying the face she made. "It's the color of mourning."

"The sky is pink when the sun comes up," she said, obviously confused.

"No, no. Mourning and morning are two different things," I tried to explain.

"But they sound the same!"

"Stupid. Mourn-ing is when you cry all the time because someone died. Morn-ing is when the sun comes up," Horeshio said, stressing the slight difference in syllables between the two words. Anasuteijia's mouth made the shape of an O before she went back to her pancakes.

"Thank you, Horeshio-chan. And don't call your sister stupid," I admonished and praised him at the same time. He was a bright child, even though he got into more fights in school than any eight-year-old should. Other children teased him about the silver streaks in his hair, usually causing a small brawl in the playground. I don't know what the other children called him, he wouldn't tell me anything. I shook my head.

_"He's too much…"_ I thought. A name floated unbidden into my mind

_…Kage…_

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Don't cha just looovve cliffhangers…Okay, so this really isn't too much of a cliffhanger…Anyway. I've decided to leave the chapters that take place in the present shorter than the chapters that take place in the past. That is, until some action starts in the present. R&R!


	4. The Past Continued

Chapter 3: The Past

Yami396

Back to the past. This chapter is dedicated to Yuni X-2 for that lovely little review that prompted me to write this chapter.

Yuni X-2: You know that thing you have on your profile page that's some kind of test thing? I took it, because I'm a spaz like that, and I swear to God the first thing I thought of was broccoli. I'm not lying! It was way too freaky!

Warning! Blood and gore in this chapter!

Disclaimer: InuYasha will never be mine! But I will get Sesshoumaru-sama, one way or another!

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I liked his name. Seeing him, in his half-demon form, made me realize just how much his name fit his image. InuYasha…it sounded wild and free, just as he was.

"That's a nice name," I commented, earning another incredulous stare.

"You're lying," he accused me. I realized that he must have been met with so much animosity because of what he was. In these troubled times, with humans and demons at war with each other, a half-demon would be the subject of public scorn. Pity and sympathy welled up inside of me.

"I'm not lying! I swear!" I protested. "I really do like your name. And I don't care if you're a half-demon! Honest!" He still looked like he didn't believe me.

"Yeah right," he said, looking away. I sighed, but then a thought came to mind. How come he looked human before he drew his sword?

"How do you transform like that?" I asked him. He looked puzzled. "You know, between your human form and you half-demon form?"

"It's my blade," he said. "When I draw it, I transform. When I sheath it, I revert back to my human form."

"I'm guessing it's a demonic blade," I said, wondering why Great-Aunt Kaede and Kikyo didn't feel its aura. I certainly did.

"Tetsusaiga is only a demonic blade when I'm in my transformed state," he said, as if reading my mind. "When I'm in human form, it's only an ancient piece of junk." I assumed that Tetsusaiga was the blade's name. As if to demonstrate its power over him, he sheathed it, and turned back to his human, and sadly doggie-earless, form.

"So should I still cal you Kage, or can I call you InuYasha?" I asked him.

"Keep calling me Kage," came the short reply.

"But that's not your name."

"Just call me that."

"Why?" I asked.

"I have my reasons," he said darkly, as a shadow passed over his eyes. I wondered why he had that reaction. Was someone looking for him? Was he on the run? Had he done something so terrible in the past that he had to hide it now? For some reason, my mind flashed back to the time of my father's murder. I saw those murderous red eyes staring at me, stray strands of silver hair falling into them…silver hair…I shook my head. I was living in the past again, as Great-Aunt Kaede said once, and I needed to stop that and start living in the present.

"Whatever you want, Kage," I said. I wanted to know those reasons, but I was afraid if I pushed him to hard, he would close up on me. I wanted him to trust me, and if gaining that trust meant that I couldn't those reasons just yet, then so be it.

"Do you sense any jewel shards?" he asked sharply. I reached out with my aura, trying so sense any of them.

"There are two somewhere near by," I said. "It's probably Manten, Hiten's younger brother." He nodded.

"What direction are they in?" he asked.

"That way," I pointed towards a grassy area. He mentioned me to go one, and to keep quiet. We silently made our way through the tall grass and Kage suddenly stopped short causing me crash into his back. He looked at me and mentioned once again to keep quiet. I looked around him and saw why. By a small pool of water sat Manten, completely preoccupied with combing three strands of hair. He seemed completely unaware of our presence.

"Kagome," Kage whispered in my ear. "Do you think you can shoot him with one of your arrows. I don't want him to notice my presence." I nodded. But just as I fitted my arrow, a small shape collided surprisingly hard into Manten.

"I'll get you back for what you did to my father!" it yelled, biting into Manten's neck. I saw now that it was a young kitsune. Manten didn't seem in the least bit interested in him. Manten grabbed him by his head and tossed him into a nearby bush. The kitsune was tenacious, however, and he once again threw himself at Manten.

"The little runt has a death wish," Kage murmured. I was horrified. He looked so young! What had Manten done to his father? That's when Manten stood up, and I could see the fox pellet he wore around his waist, and then the whole situation became very clear. Manten had killed the kitsune's father, and in return, the kitsune wanted revenge. Manten finally had enough of the poor thing.

"I'll kill you now, little fox!" he yelled. "Then you can go join your father in hell!" He charged at the kitsune, who looked frightened to death, unable to move.

Manten never stood a chance. As soon as Manten had come within striking distance, I fired my arrow. Since my family comes from a long line of priestesses, my arrow was not a regular one. It was a Sacred Arrow, deadly to both human and demon. It ripped through Manten, leaving only two jewel shards lying on the ground, and one astonished kitsune.

"Are you okay?" I asked him. He looked at me with wide green eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you," I said, when I realized he was afraid of me.

"You're not?" he asked in a small voice. I shook my head. "Thank you for helping me have my revenge," he said. "I'll leave now."

"Wait!" I said. "Where are you going to go? Is your mother looking for you?" He turned around with a pained expression on his face.

"My momma's dead," he said, tears welling up in his green eyes. I felt so sad at that moment, that without thinking, I fell to my knees and pulled him into a fierce hug. He was surprised; I felt his small muscles tense up, but then he relaxed and began crying softly into my shoulder. I felt tears of my own begin to form, remembering the way I had felt when my father had died, but that was nothing compared to his sad story. Both of his parents were dead, and he had no home.

"Why don't you come with us?" I asked him. Kage snorted behind me.

"He'll just slow us down," he complained. I glared at him.

"He has no home! Where else can he go?" I asked him. Kage looked away.

"Feh! If you want to keep him fine! But you have to take care of him. I'm not getting involved!" he snapped.

"You're acting like he's some kind of stray cat I found in an alley that I brought home," I yelled at him. He only went "Feh!" and turned away. I smiled at the kitsune. "Do you have a name?" I asked.

"Shippo," he told me.

"Well Shippo-chan," I said, using the affectionate honorific. "I guess you're coming with us now!"

I could tell, right from the start, that Kage and Shippo-chan would not get along. He loved to pester Kage, often throwing tops and toy snakes at him, or transforming into his, as I called it, bubble form, bouncing on top of Kage's head. Kage, for the most part, took the abuse in stride, stopping long enough to hit Shippo-chan off of him, and then deposited him in my arms, with the warning of, "If you don't keep him in control, he goes." It was very much like watching two brothers fight playfully about nothing.

Unfortunately, after the fight with Hiten and Manten, we heard and felt nothing about the jewel shards again. I glanced at the seven shards I kept in a pouch around my neck. They were so little and harmless by themselves, yet dangerous in the hands of demons and the corrupted.

"Have you sensed any yet?" Kage whined at me, for the tenth time that hour.

"If I had sensed any, wouldn't I have told you?" I said. I was becoming annoyed, his whining only adding fuel to the fire. I was beginning to see that this little journey was starting to turn into a large one, with much traveling everywhere in Japan. I wondered if Kikyo had realized this before, and if that was the reason she had sent me with Kage, instead of retrieving them by herself. Of course, she had plenty of work for her at home, defending the house from demons. I wasn't at her skill level yet. True, I could shoot Sacred Arrows with deadly precision, but that was only after several years of training. Kikyo had taken to it naturally, and being the oldest, had managed to secure the position of 'The Best Archer' while I was there for the 'Comparing Kagome to Kikyo' position. It made me angry just thinking about it. I didn't hate my older sister, we just didn't see eye to eye.

"What's the matter, Kagome?" Shippo-chan asked me. My feelings must have shown on my face.

"I'm tired, that's all," I said. H didn't need to know about my family problems. He had enough to worry about.

"You're upset," Kage said. "I can tell."

"What do you know?" I replied back. I would really have to work on hiding my emotions.

"I know a lot," was all he said. He seemed to enjoy being an enigma.

"Kagome, you know a lot about demons, don't you?" Shippo-chan asked me, trying to change the subject. I nodded. "Have you heard of the legendary demon Kaikatsu Gin Kiraitsu?" I had. He was a monster, even among demons. Kikyo and Great-Aunt Kaede often talked about him in hushed tones. They never talked about him in front of me, and if they were, they would stop talking as soon as I walked in the room or they sensed my presence. But that never stopped me from asking around. A few of my friends had told me some details about him. Kaikatsu Gin Kiraitsu was not his true name. Whatever his given name was, everyone was too afraid to say it, if anybody knew at all. He was only called that because every time he killed, he laughed. He was a ruthless killer, killing both demons and humans alike and he had no remorse. No one truly knows what he looks like; he's so fast that no one's actually gotten a good look at him. Some say that he breathes fire, while other say that he can multiply himself into copies. I don't know if it's true or not, seeing as I've never seen him before.

"I've seen him," Shippo-chan was saying. "I was with my father, and he flew by. I got a good look at him though. He had sil-"

"Why don't the two of you stop chatting and try to find the jewel shards!" Kage snarled. I looked at him in surprise. He was visibly tensed; his shoulders and jaw tight.

"You can't talk to Kagome like that!" Shippo-chan yelled at him. "You need to learn some manners!" He jumped out of my arms and hit Kage on the head.

"That's it runt! You're dead!" Kage grabbed Shippo and started pulling on his cheeks, stretching them out as far as they would go.

"Kage! Stop! You're going to hurt him!" I yelled.

"Feh! He started it!" Kage said. I was beginning to wonder if 'feh' was his favorite word. He used it often enough.

"Stop behaving like a two-year-old," I told him. "Put Shippo-chan down!" He dropped him. "I said put him down! Not drop him! Kage just looked away. I sighed. Kage was a handful. "Why do you have to be so difficult?"

"I'm not difficult!"

"You're doing it right now!"

"Doing what?"

"Being difficult!"

"I'm not!"

"Is it just me, or does this conversation seem to be going nowhere?" Shippo-chan asked us. As much as I hated to admit it, Shippo-chan was right. The conversation was going nowhere. I had the feeling that Shippo-chan was probably the most mature out of the three of us, even thought he seemed to be the youngest.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Why are you sorry?" Kage asked. "You didn't do anything."

"Hey look! A village!" Shippo-chan shouted. I looked. Sure enough, there was one up ahead.

"Maybe we can stop there and get something to eat!" I said. "And maybe find an inn. I'm tired of sleeping on the ground!" Kage rolled his eyes.

"Women," he said. I glared at him.

"Are you guys coming?" Shippo-chan called to us, already five feet ahead. I ran to catch up.

I frowned as we reached the village. It looked normal enough, but it was the lack of life that bothered me. I could see no one. There were no people coming in or out. Not even smoke coming from the chimneys. We got closer to the main gate. There was something covering it.

"Hair?" I said, as soon as I could make out what it was.

"Hair?" Kage repeated. "I don't see any hair."

"It's right there, all over the gate," I said. What did he mean he couldn't see it?

"I don't see anything, either," Shippo-chan said, looking up at me, a worried expression on his face. Was I the only one who could see it? Kage walked up to the gate, and pressed his hand against the hair. He swiftly pulled it back, cursing.

"What happened?" I asked him. He showed me his palm. It was all sliced up, thin lines of blood already falling down the side of his hand.

"How did that happen Kage?" Shippo-chan asked him, looking worried.

"Hell if I should know," Kage snapped, shaking his hand. "It hurts like hell!"

"It was the hair," I said.

"There is no hair!" Kage said. "You're seeing things."

"Look!" Shippo-chan suddenly said, sounding horrified. I turned. I man was coming at us, covered in blood, holding his left arm, if he had had one. From the elbow down, it was gone

"Please…please…help…me," he pleaded, staggering over to us. I could only watch, horrified as he came closer to the gate, blood spattering the ground where he walked. "Please…help…everyone's dead…only me," he spoke in broken tones as he reached the gate.

"No! Don't!" I yelled. "Don't walk through the gate!" It was too late. I grabbed Shippo-chan and held my hands over eyes. He didn't need to see, not after what he had been through. I closed my eyes too, but it didn't drown out the scream, or the sickening sound of flesh being sliced. I fought the urge to retch. I opened my eyes and looked at Kage, who was looking at the man, with pity.

"Come on. We need to see what's happened here," he said. I nodded shakily. "You said there was hair all over the gate?"

"Yeah…I guess it's some kind of weapon?" I asked. He nodded.

"It must be able so slice flesh and bones," he said, looking sideways. I couldn't bear to look at the dead man.

"There's got to be another way in," I said, looking around.

"Yeah, there is. We'll have to jump over the fence," he said. I stared at him.

"Jump over the fence?" I asked.

"Do you see any other way in?" he asked me. I looked around. There was a small hole in the fence, and it wasn't covered with that strange hair. I pointed to it.

"We can get in through that hole," I said. Kage made a face, but nonetheless, we went in. It took some wriggling, but I finally managed to squeeze my self through. When I looked up, I saw the extent of the damage. There was blood everywhere and bodies were strewn all over the place. It smelled like death and blood. I started to feel nauseas.

"They're all missing their heads," Shippo-chan whispered. He didn't want to stay outside, and had insisted on coming in with us.

"What could have happened here?" I said. In all the battles I had seen, I had never seen anything so gruesome in my life, including my father's murder. I had to take several deep breaths before I could continue. "Be careful, there might be hair anywhere," I warned them. We kept on walking.

"We need to give these people proper burials," Kage said, looking at the bodies that were everywhere. "After we find the demon that did this." He looked determined. We moved on. As we got closer to the center of the village, I began to notice the hair again. These strands were stained crimson with blood, so Kage and Shippo-chan could tell where not to walk.

I was trying to rack my brain, and remember what demon used hair as a weapon, but I couldn't remember any. Most demons relied on their claws and teeth to kill. And what demon only took the head but left the body? It didn't make sense, unless the demon had some special purpose for wanting only the heads.

The center of the town was completely covered in hair, just as the gate was. I could see arms and legs caught in the web. I pressed my hand to my mouth. We couldn't go any farther. If we did, we would be cut up, just like the people in the village. The only thing we could do was turn back and wriggle through the hole again. Only, this time, when we stood up, there was hair everywhere, laced through the trees like a gigantic spider web. And in the middle, there was a giant ball of hair, supported by the thick strands of hair that were laced through the trees.

"Oh me, oh my! Two humans, a demon and seven jewel shards!" A female voice said. Simultaneously, we all looked up to see a young woman swing through the hair. She smiled down at us.

"I guess you're the one that killed the village!" Kage shouted.

"Yes, that was I! You can call me Yura. Yura of the Hair!" she spoke. Something clicked in my brain.

"You! You're supposed to be sealed away!" I yelled. About fifty years ago, a very powerful priestess sealed Yura of the Hair away in the mountains. She was never supposed to break free of the bondings.

"Oh yes! I was! But you see, thanks to someone, a jewel shard hit the mountain, and I was able to escape!" she said. I gasped. It was my fault that the village had died.

"Shut up! Come down here and fight!" Kage yelled back, seeing my reaction. Yura's grin widened.

"You have wonderful hair," she said to him. "I'd like to add it to my collection." I shivered. Kage looked at me and then jerked his head towards Yura. I looked at him, puzzled. He sighed.

"I can't see the hair," he whispered hurriedly. "I'll distract her long enough for you to shoot her. Don't miss!" he finished. I nodded.

"Shippo-chan, quick! Hide yourself!" I said to him. He nodded. In a second, he had transformed into a stone statue. It was good enough.

"Come on Yura! I'm waiting!" Kage taunted her. Yura swung down at him, blade in hand.

"This is Crimson Mist!" she yelled. "It slices skin and bone without cutting the hair!" She was almost within striking range. I just needed her to go a bit lower. She did. I let my arrow fly, but she saw it coming and dodged upwards. It hit her hairball.

"Oh no!" she yelled. The hairball exploded, sending skulls flying. A few of the heads that came out looked fresh, and I could only guess in horror that those were the villagers.

"Oh!" I gasped.

"You!" Yura yelled! "You're going to die, girl, for what you did to my nest!" she screamed, throwing Crimson Mist at me. I watched it coming, paralyzed in fear. There was no way that I could dodge! I closed my eyes and said a quick prayer, waiting for the blade to hit me.

It never did. Seconds before it would have hit me, Kage threw himself in the path of the blade, covering my body with his. The blade hit him in the back.

"Kage!" I screamed horrified. Even he was a half-demon, he wouldn't survive, not in his human form! It was all my fault! "Kage! Say something!"

"Don't cry for me yet," he said, still sarcastic, even in pain. "I won't die." He jerked when Yura pulled the blade out with hair.

"Your lover is very brave," she said. "Or very stupid."

"Shut up!" Kage yelled, blood pouring down his back. "I'm not going to die! It's going to be you!" She threw that blade at him so fast, that I don't think even he saw it coming. I saw his eyes widen, before I closed my eyes, and opened my mouth to scream.

The sounds of metal connecting with metal made me open my eyes. Kage had drawn Tetsusaiga, transforming into his half-demon form. He was InuYasha. I breathed a sigh of relief. InuYasha could defeat Yura. I looked over at Shippo-chan to see if he was still safe. To my surprise, he had transformed back to his original form, and was staring at the ongoing battle with what could only be described as wide-eyed horror.

"Shippo-chan! What's the matter?" I asked as I ran over to him. He was shaking violently. "Shippo-chan!" I yelled urgently. I looked at him, but he wasn't seeing my face.

"It's him," he whispered.

"It's who?" I asked. I was beginning to get scared. Shippo-chan had never looked this frightened before.

"It's Kaikatsu Gin Kiraitsu."

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I love cliffhangers, don't you? 'Dodges stuff being thrown at me.' Oh yeah! Kaikatsu Gin Kiraitsu roughly translates to Cheerful Silver Killer. But it sounds much cooler in Japanese. And, here's the deal. I'll write the next two chapters but I won't post them until I start getting some reviews. I'm happy about the two I have, but I know more people have been reading this, and I want to know what you guys think. So if I get reviews, I'll post the next chapter, which will be in the present, as soon as its done, and then I'll write the chapter after that, right afterwards and have it posted in a few days. But if I don't get reviews, then you'll have to wait a week for the next chapter and another week for the chapter after that. So…R&R if you want to find out what happens.


	5. The Present Continued

Chapter 4: The Present

Yami396

Back to the present.

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha; it belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I only own Anasuteijia, Mistu, Samisu, Horeshio, and Dr. Iwata. I will own Sesshoumaru-sama one day though…

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(Kagome Present Day)

Even as Mitsu drove me to see Dr. Iwata, that name still bothered me. Kage…it meant shadow. But it also held importance to me. It was like I had heard somewhere before, but I couldn't place where. Well of course, I had probably heard it dozens of times in conversations, but…

"You know, you're starting to scare me," Mitsu said. "Usually you're chatting away about something or other, but know you're just staring out the window, shut up like a clam," he added, trying to make me laugh.

"I want to remember," I said suddenly.

"You want to remember?" he asked, confused. "Remember what?"

"I want to know what happened to me when I was sixteen," I said. He frowned.

"You've never wanted to remember before," he said. "Why now, all of a sudden?"

"I think things are starting to come back to me," I said.

"What kinds of things?" he said sharply.

"Stuff," I said simply. I don't know why, but warning bells were beginning to go off in my head, telling me not to tell Mitsu too much. Unfortunately, Mitsu wasn't so easily put off.

"Come on Kagome, you can tell me," he said. "What's on your mind?"

"Oh look, we're here," I said, grateful for the interruption. I needed to talk to Dr. Iwata. He would know something.

"You'll tell me afterwards, right?" he asked. I narrowed my eyes. He had tried to hide it, but his question was more of a command than anything else.

"Yeah, sure." I replied. I would tell him what he wanted to hear, and nothing more. I walked into the building and smiled at the receptionist. "I'm here for my appointment with Dr. Iwata," I said to her. She checked her appointment book.

"Mitani, Kagome?" she asked. I nodded. "He's right down the hall," she said, pointing to the hallway. I didn't bother telling her that after so many years coming here, I knew where his office was.

"Kagome-san, how are you?" Dr. Iwata asked when I walked in. I smiled.

"In truth, Doctor, I didn't sleep very well last night," I answered.

"Why not?"

"I was having nightmares."

"What kind of nightmares?"

"The kind when you're falling, and then you wake up before you hit the ground. Only I did hit the ground," I said. "And I felt pain in the back of my head." Something flashed in his eyes.

"Has anything else strange happened?" he asked. He knew something, I could tell.

"I saw an image of someone I think I know," I said. His eyes widened.

"What did he…I mean it look like?" he corrected himself fast. How could he have known the image was of a man?

"Did I know him when I was sixteen?" I asked in a rush. "Tell me! Please!"

"Yes," he said in a whisper.

"Who is he?"

"I cannot tell," he said sorrowfully.

"What do you mean you can't tell! Tell me!" I demanded.

"Do not make me Kagome-san," he pleaded with me. "If I tell you, we'll both be at risk!" I looked at him. Both be at risk? What was going on here?

"Dr. Iwata, what's happening?" I asked him.

"Kagome-san," he said. "Leave it alone. Don't force yourself to remember things that shouldn't be."

"Please, I want to remember. I want to remember what happened when I was sixteen," I begged him. He looked pained.

"Don't. It's better this way," he said.

"Kage! Tell me, did I know someone named Kage?" I was starting to cry in confusion and frustration.

"How did you remember him?" Dr. Iwata asked shocked.

"So I did know him!" I said. "Please, who is he?"

"I can't."

"You must!"

"I can't!"

"Did he have silver hair?" I asked. "Can you tell me that?"

"He didn't," Dr. Iwata said, nervously running his hand through his hair. "Please, don't ask me any more." I was to busy thinking to ask anything. I needed a name to go with the face that I saw. And besides, everyone was acting strangely about this whole thing. It was like something had been hidden, hidden deeply so that no one could find it again. Something that had happened to me eight years ago, someone named Kage, and the silver haired man. I needed to find the answers myself, if nobody was going to help me.

"Thank you Dr. Iwata," I said, as I made my way to the door.

"Where are you going?" he asked, worriedly.

"To find the answers I search for," I replied.

"Kagome-san." The seriousness in his voice made me turn around. "I can't stop you, I know that. But I can tell you this: Don't remember what shouldn't be remembered. What has been forgotten is forgotten for a reason. Your memories of when you were sixteen were too traumatic for you to remember, so your mind cast them away. Don't drag them back so you can suffer more. You have more at stake now than you did in the past. Keep you memories that, the past." I could only stare at him. I had heard about people who forgot horrible events in their life, but I hadn't known that I was one of them. I was told that I had hit my head when I fell out of a tree…

"Thank you doctor. But this is something I must do." With that, I left.

While I was walking to the car, I tried to calm my racing thoughts, and not let my emotions show through on my face. I also had to think up a suitable lie to tell Mitsu. As much as I hated lying to him, I didn't know whom I could trust. Dr. Iwata hadn't been much help, and seemed afraid of what would happen to him if he told me anything. It was all too much. Taking a deep breath, I reached the car, only to sigh in defeat.

"I was hungry, so I went to get us some food. Be right back!" Read the note on the windshield. He really was impossible sometimes. I decided to wait by the car, watching people pass by. One person caught my eye. My jaw fell open. He had silver hair. I couldn't see his face, and he was moving too fast through the crowd to catch up with. I gasped. He turned around and looked at me. No, he wasn't the man whose image I had seen in my mind, but there definitely was a resemblance. The shape of their eyes was different, but they were that same golden color. The man that I was looking at right now was older than the one I had seen in my mind, but ignoring the purple…were they scars…on his face, they could have almost passed off as the same. Or at least brothers. Recognition flashed in his eyes, though his face showed no emotion, and he headed my way. I froze in panic. I don't know why, but something about him scared me. When he was only a little bit away from me he stopped, looking down at me.

"Yes?" I asked a little shakily.

"So you truly don't remember," he said. I blinked.

"Do I know you?" I asked.

"We met on a few occasions," he said. "You were younger." I must have met him when I was sixteen. I wouldn't forget a face like his, so completely devoid of emotion.

"I'm sorry. I can't remember anything from when I was sixteen," I said, taking the fact that that was when we met for granted. He looked up.

"He's coming," he said, turning away. I looked behind me and saw Mitsu walking towards the car. When I looked back, the man was already fairly far away. He turned around. "It is not that you cannot remember," he called back. "You do not want to." Then he was gone, leaving me very shaken. Too much was happening at once.

"Are you okay, Kagome?" Mitsu asked me. "You look pale as death!"

"Mitsu," I said, leaning on the car. "I need to lie down. My head hurts."

I must have fainted, because the next thing I remember was waking up in my bed at home. I must have given Mitsu such a shock, passing out like that. I noticed that Horeshio was watching me. I smiled at him.

"Hey," I said.

"Mitsu said you passed out," he said. He never called Mitsu 'father' or even 'dad.'

"I'm okay now," I assured him.

"I have to tell Anasuteijia and Samisu that you're okay," he said and left. I stayed in bed for a while, contemplating. Whoever that man was on the sidewalk was, he definitely had a connection with my forgotten memories and me. I needed to find out more. Ignoring the throbbing in my temple, I stood up and walked out of the room, in the direction of the attic. My old things were stored in there, and maybe I would find something useful. I heard Mitsu in the hallway. He was talking low, and I missed most of what he said.

"I know Esumei!" he snapped, his frustration making him talk louder. Esumei was my mother. I crept closer. She was saying something. "I don't know what to do! She's beginning to remember about Kage and them all! You said she would never remember!" I gasped inwardly.

………………………………………………………………………

And I think I'll leave it at that. I've noticed I have an affinity for cliffhangers. Everybody give a big thanks to YuniX-2 on and kashumaru on for this chapter and you'll get more answers from the past in the next chapter! R&R!


	6. The Past Continues

Chapter 5: The Past Continues

Yami 396

Whoa, angry Liany, watch out!

Finally, I get to continue the past. Sorry for the wait, but I've been really busy lately.

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.

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"It's Kaikatsu Gin Kiraitsu!" Shippo-chan whispered again. I could only stare at him. I didn't know whether or not to believe him. Shippo-chan was young, and he may have been overreacting, but then again, Shippo-chan did say he saw him once. Maybe he had been boasting. I didn't know. The only thing I could do was hold Shippo-chan close and watch the fight between InuYasha and Yura of the Hair.

He was losing. The wound on his back was still bleeding heavily, and his movements were becoming sluggish. He must have lost a lot of blood. If he kept on fighting, there was a possibility that he would die. Besides, Yura had the advantage. InuYasha couldn't see the hair, and he had already gotten caught in it several times. If it weren't for his strength as a half-demon, he would have lost his head. Shippo-chan stirred in my arms.

"Kagome," he whispered. "We need to leave."

"I can't leave him behind," I said. "He saved my life!"

"But it's Kaikatsu Gin Kiraitsu!" he exclaimed. I shook my head.

"He can't be him. Kaikatsu Gin Kiraitsu would have killed us already." Shippo-chan looked at me.

"But I saw him," he insisted. "It's definitely him!" I wasn't paying attention to him. I had turned back to the battle in time to see InuYasha get pinned to a tree with hair. He was struggling, but the hair was tightening around his neck. Before I even knew what I was doing, I found myself running towards him. I didn't know why, but I was feeling a sort of duty to him. He had saved my life once, now it was my turn. I tripped over something. It was a skull. I gasped.

"Idiot! Get back!" I looked up. InuYasha was glaring at me. He had gotten free from the hair.

"What is this?" Yura called. "Kaikatsu Gin Kiraitsu protecting a human?" Even Yura thought it was him. I looked up. InuYasha had gone tense again, but it was so fleeting that I thought I had imagined it.

"Yeah, whatever," he said mockingly. "You're going to have to better than that to kill me!"

"Stop," I pleaded. "You're bleeding too much! You'll die!"

"Feh," was his only response, and I quickly moved out of the way, as the battle resumed. I looked at the skull that I had tripped over. I could sense an evil aura coming from it. It was different from the other skulls that were scattered everywhere. It was red, and the hairs that Yura was controlling seemed to come from it. Yura's scream made me look up. InuYasha had run her through with the Tetsusaiga. He pulled it out, the blade shining with blood.

"That took a long time," he said, turning away. He didn't notice Yura throw her sword at him.

"InuYasha!" I screamed. "Move!" He turned around just in time. She had aimed for his neck, and it would have hit if he hadn't moved. Her Crimson Mist grazed his cheek, leaving a long line of blood on it.

"What the hell!" he asked in amazement. I was thinking the same thing. How had she survived being run through with a sword!

"I didn't tell you?" she asked, mocking his tone from earlier. "You can't kill me. I'm immortal!" Oh God, I had forgotten to tell InuYasha that. That was one of the reasons why Yura could only be sealed away. No one knew where she hid her soul. That was the only was to destroy her, to destroy the object in which she had hid her soul. I looked around. She probably had it hidden somewhere close to her. It wasn't hidden in Crimson Mist, I was sure of that. It was too risky. The sword could be broken in battle. She would have hidden it somewhere where no one would look. I looked at the red skull. Yura was upset when I had accidentally destroyed her hairball. Could she have hidden her soul in the skull? I looked to make sure that Yura was still busy with InuYasha. If I didn't so something, InuYasha was going to lose. He already fatigued from blood loss, and I didn't have enough power to fight her hand to hand or to seal her away. I snuck over to the skull and drove my arrow into it. Almost immediately Yura noticed me.

"Stay away form there!" she yelled, throwing her sword at me. InuYasha was too tired to do more than to yell for me to move and to try to knock the sword away. I hit the skull again with my arrow, and a thin crack formed. I didn't have much time. The sword was closing in fast. I hit one final time with all my strength, and the skull cracked in half, revealing a comb, neatly cracked in two. The Crimson Mist fell inches away from my head. Yura disappeared, leaving only her jewel shard and clothes behind. I let go of the breath that I was holding. It was over.

"You did it Kagome!" Shippo-chan yelled, as he ran into my arms. "You did it!"

"Nice job, Kagome," InuYasha said walking over. Shippo-chan jumped out of my arms and stood in front of me.

"St-stay away from h-her," he said, trying to act brave. "I kn-know it's y-you, Kaikatsu Gin Kiraitsu!" InuYasha snorted.

"Don't insult me," he snapped. "You're only a little trouble-maker." Shippo-chan flushed.

"You have to be him!" he insisted. "I saw you! You have the same silver hair, the same dog ears, the same smell, and the same red eyes…you have gold eyes!" Shippo-chan stopped and stared at him. InuYasha glared at him.

"Are you finished?" he asked. "Kagome? What's the matter!" He asked me. My face must have been pale, but I couldn't help it. I had seen Kaikatsu Gin Kiraitsu too. He had killed my father. That's why no one ever mentioned his name in front of me. It all made sense now. I took several deep breaths.

"Sorry," I said. "I'm a little nauseous," I lied.

"Blood bothers you?" InuYasha asked me. I nodded. It wasn't a total lie, blood did bother me, but I was more afraid for him than I was for his blood.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked him.

"Feh! Of course I'm okay! I'm not a weakling like you!" he said, haughtily.

"Oh really," I replied. "Remind me next time not to save you."

"Shut up," he said, wincing a bit as he moved.

"You're not okay," I said, taking full authority. "Shippo-chan, can you take this cloth and wet it in that stream that's around here?" I asked him, amid protests from InuYasha. He nodded solemnly and left. I turned to InuYasha. "Let me see your wounds," I said.

"No," he snapped.

"They're gashes from a sword! They could get infected!" I yelled.

"I'm not a weakling mortal," he said. "I'm not like you!"

"In that case, why haven't you sheathed Tetsusaiga yet?" I asked him. He glared at me. "Now let me see!" He began to walk away. I cursed under my breath.

_"He is so difficult!"_ I thought. _"I'm only trying to help!"_ I snuck up behind him and kicked him in the back of his knee. He fell down cursing.

"Bitch! What was that for?" he yelled, trying to get back up. I sat on him, effectively pinning him down. "Get off of me!"

"Let me see your wounds!" I yelled at him, seizing his shirt. He grabbed my wrists. "Just take your shirt off!"

"No!"

"Take it off!"

"Beg me to!"

"Should I come back later?" Shippo-chan interrupted. "You two look kind of busy." I'm not sure he meant it in an innocent way, or if he was implying something, but the one thing I was sure of was that my face had to be turning as red as a tomato. InuYasha stood up, pushing me off of him.

"You're dead!" he yelled, diving for Shippo-chan. I didn't bother trying to stop them. I was too busy trying to control my blush that has spread over my face and neck.

"You shouldn't run around with those kinds of wounds," I commented, when I could look at him again.

"Stupid! What wounds?" he snapped. I looked at him, confused. He sighed impatiently. "My body's different." He lifted his shirt to show me his back. The wounds were gone.

"They've already healed!" I asked, amazed.

"They were only scratches from a sword. My body heals faster than yours does," he said, as if he were talking about a skinned knee. I could only shake my head. I had a lot to learn about InuYasha.

"You're so weird," was all I said. "Let's go."

It took us another two weeks before we reached the next town. It was small, but at least this one hadn't been attacked by demons. We wandered around for little until a young woman came by.

"Are you new here?" she asked us. I nodded.

"We're looking for a place to stay," I explained. She smiled.

"I work at an inn. Would you like to stay there?" she asked.

"That would be great!" I replied. I was tired of sleeping on the ground at night. A bed would be a welcome luxury.

"Let me show you the way," she said, leading us to a small inn that looked nice.

"It's quiet, don't you think," Kage asked. I had gotten into the habit of calling him InuYasha whenever he transformed and Kage when he was in his human form.

"We don't get that many visitors around here," she explained. "Not many people travel to here, especially this close to nightfall." Kage didn't look convinced.

"You're being paranoid," I told him. Kage was always on the edge, ready to jump into battle at any time, even if it meant showing his half-demon form.

"It's okay. I'm not offended or anything," the woman said. "I haven't mentioned my name yet. I'm called Sadako."

"I'm Kagome," I said. "And this is Shippo and Kage." There was no need to be formal. We would probably just stay the night and then leave the next day. Surnames were of no importance.

"Would you like two separate rooms or one large one?" Sadako asked.

"One large one," Kage answered. When I looked at him he explained, "So we don't get split up." I rolled my eyes.

"It really doesn't matter. I don't think anybody's going to attack us," I whispered.

"I don't like this place," he insisted. "There's something creepy about it."

"Once again, you're being paranoid," I said, annoyed.

"I don't feel anything creepy," Shippo-chan offered.

"Nobody asked your opinion runt," Kage snapped.

"Kagome! He's being mean to me!" he whined to me.

"Kage, be nice!"

"Like you can make me!"

"Are you married by any chance?" Sadako asked us, one eyebrow raised. I shook my head.

"'Just traveling together," I said. Kage mumbled an affirmation. Sadako nodded.

"Otoki!" she called. "We have guests!" A girl a few years younger than me came running.

"Guests?" she asked, looking at us, with an expression I couldn't quite place. "They're staying the night?"

"Yes. Please show them to their room," Sadako told her. Otoki looked at us once again before showing us down a long hallway.

"Are you new here?" she asked us.

"Yes," I said.

"There's another town a few miles from here. They have an inn too. Why don't you stay there? There's still a few hours of sunlight left."

"Are you driving us out?" I asked her, confused. She bit her lip.

"Bad things happen here," she whispered. "You should leave while you still can." I stared at her, but she wouldn't say anything more. "Here's your room," she said at last, staying only long enough to unlock the door before vanishing back down the hallway.

"What was that all about," I wondered out loud. I looked to Kage for help. He shrugged.

"Do you want to leave?" he asked. Before I could reply, a roll of thunder crashed outside, and a heavy downpour began. I sighed.

"I guess we can't, I replied.

The downpour lasted a few hours and then let up. By the time the sky cleared, the sun was already setting, and it was too late to journey to another town. Otoki's warning still sounded in my head, but I banished it when Kage asked if I wanted to explore the town with him.

The town itself was small, but very busy. People were rushing everywhere, as if trying to reach their destination before nightfall. It all seemed a bit peculiar, but I figured it probably had something to do with demon attacks at night or a curfew of sorts. I accidentally bumped into an old man.

"I'm sorry!" I said, bowing.

"It's alright, it's alright," he said. "No harm done."

"Where are you rushing to, old man?" Kage asked rudely. I glared at him.

"Got to get home before nightfall," he said, looking at the rapidly declining sunlight nervously.

"Is there some kind of curfew set here?" I asked.

"No, no curfew, he replied. "But the haunts come out at night."

"The haunts?" Kage asked skeptically. The man nodded fervently.

"Yes, the haunts! They'll kill anyone foolish enough to travel at night. You best be on your way too!" With that, he was gone. Kage and I looked at each other.

"Should we go back?" he asked he. I was beginning to think that that was his way of making fun of me. He was trying to prove his point that the village was creepy.

"We can always go back if you're frightened," I said. Two could play at that game. Kage glared at me.

"Feh! Who said I was frightened?" he snapped.

"Whatever Kage," I said mockingly. He grumbled the whole way back.

"You're still here." Otoki commented when she brought dinner. "The rain kept you?"

"Yeah, we really didn't want to travel in the rain or at night," I said. Otoki looked grim.

"You really should leave," she said again, with a nervous glance at the door.

"Why?" Shippo-chan asked her. She looked at the door again, and then decided to speak.

"There's a well near the south end of the town," she said. "Legend says that a girl committed suicide by drowning herself in it. They say that her spirit haunts this town and comes out at night to find it's victims."

"Ghost stories," Kage said, looking uninterested. Otoki shook her head.

"It's true. As long as her body is still in the well, she will still kill. Her name was S-"

"My Otoki, you're very chatty tonight," Sadako said pleasantly from the door. She had opened it, unnoticed by anyone. Otoki gasped and jumped up.

"I'm sorry," she said, bowing quickly. "I was just leaving." She all but ran out of the room.

"You'll have to excuse Otoki," Sadako said with a smile. "She tends to like to tell ghost stories all the time to our guests. Sometimes, she even scares them away. None of them are real of course." I nodded. Kage was looking at her through narrowed eyes. "Why don't you eat? You're food is getting cold," she said, gesturing to our plates before leaving. It would be rude to refuse, I reasoned, so we ate it. Almost as soon as I was finished, a wave of sleepiness washed over me. Shippo-chan yawned.

"I'm so tired," he said, stretching.

"So am I," I said, yawning. Even Kage seemed tired. My eyelids were heavy, and as soon as I lay down, I was lost to a dreamless sleep.

What seemed like an eternity later, I was awakened by something dripping onto my face. At first I thought it was a leak from the downpour, but whatever was dripping was warm. I forced my eyes open, and looked up. All thoughts of sleep vanished.

Otoki looked down at me though blank eyes, her mouth opened in terror. She was plastered to ceiling somehow, as if an invisible force was holding her up there. Her blood was dripping onto my face, from the deep slash in her abdomen. I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

"Kage," I whispered hoarsely. "Kage, where are you?"

"Uhhnn," he replied. Too late I realized that the food had most likely been drugged.

"Kage! Get up!" I was beginning to panic, and panic was making me start to cry.

"Whaddayawan," he mumbled sleepily, looking at me though the darkness.

"Look up," I said. He did. As soon as his mind registered what he was seeing, he cursed.

"Damn it!" he said softly. "Kagome! Where's the damn light switch!" Before I could answer, the door opened, and Sadako walked in.

"Oh, you're awake," she said. "I would have hoped you would have stayed asleep."

"You creepy witch!" Kage said, getting up slowly and jerkily. "What the hell is going on here!"

"Otoki said too much," she said simply. "That was the only way to shut her up." She laughed evilly.

"You killed her?" I asked, horrified.

"Just as I'll kill you three," she said, in that same genial tone she used when she had talked to us when we first met. I shivered.

"You know," Kage started out. "A lot of people have said that to us, and none of them have left alive." He unsheathed Tetsusaiga and swung the blade at her. "I'll kill you!" The blade went through her.

"How can you kill me, when I'm already dead?" she asked, her image changing. Her pretty face turned into that of a corpse's, gray and decaying. She reached out to me with her hand, also gray and with no fingernails. I flinched and moved away. "You can't kill a ghost," she said, laughing.

"You," I said. "You're the girl who drowned herself in the well!" I said. Otoki had been trying to warn us! Sadako frowned.

"Yes, that was me. But I had my reasons," she said bitterly. "But I won't bore you with the details," she said, regaining her genial tone again. "If you want to know why, then you can find them in hell!"

"Kagome! You and Shippo get out of here!" InuYasha yelled. "Go find the well! I can hold her off for a bit!"

"Don't make me laugh," Sadako said. "A mere half-demon such as yourself cannot begin to dream about defeating me. Not when countless other demons and priests and priestesses have tried and failed!" I looked at InuYasha, who signaled for me to leave, and then grabbed Shippo-chan and fled down the hallway. I could hear Sadako yelling after me. Only when I made it outside, I began to breathe again. But didn't have time to waste. The longer I delayed, the greater the chances of InuYasha dieing became. I began to run in the first direction I chose.

The town seemed deserted. The only noise I could hear was the pounding of my heart and the sound of my uneven breathing. I couldn't see where I was going, the moon was hidden behind thick clouds, and I didn't even know what direction I was heading in. All I could think about was Otoki's blank face staring down at me, and Sadako with her decaying flesh reaching out to me.

"Kagome, look!" Shippo-chan pointed. It was the well. Made of white stones, it stood out against the darkness. We had made it. I walked over to it and examined it. The lid was closed. I would have to open it. I pushed with all my strength, but it wouldn't open. Shippo-chan jumped up and tried to help me, but it didn't work. I fell to the ground crying in frustration. In my anger, I kicked the well, and to my surprise, the stones at the top loosened and fell in. causing the cover to fall off. I looked into the well. It was dark and murky, and I couldn't see the bottom. I was overcome with chills when the evil aura hit me. I took several deep breaths and then turned towards Shippo-chan.

"Shippo-chan, I'm going to have to go in there," I said. "I need you to wait out here. If anything happens, run." He began to nod, but stopped, his eyes becoming wide. "Shippo-chan, what's the matter?" I asked him. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, but nothing came out. Finally he pointed behind me. I turned around.

A skeleton was making its way out of the well; it's dark hair falling in front of it. It must have been Sadako's body. I bit back a scream, and tried to move away, but my legs were paralyzed in fear. The skeleton grabbed my arm.

"You can never escape," it said, coming closer. I screamed, and my aura exploded around me. The skeleton screamed, an unearthly sound, as it disintegrated around me. I breathed heavily.

"We did it, Shippo-chan!" I said. He nodded. "Why don't we go back and find InuYasha," I said getting up.

"Did you say InuYasha?" a new voice said, from the direction of the forest. This part of the town had no fence surrounding it, probably due to the well. I turned around.

"Who's there?" I asked. As if in answer, two hands grabbed me and dragged me into the forest.

"Scream and I'll kill you," he whispered. I froze. I could hear Shippo-chan yelling for me, and then all was lost in the darkness of the forest.

I was dropped unceremoniously onto the ground, a few miles into the forest. I glared at my captor.

"What are you doing?" I snapped at him. He looked down at me.

"Do not try my patience mortal," he said. "I want you to tell me where InuYasha is." He said InuYasha's name as if it were some kind of plague.

"What makes you think I'll tell you anything?" I said. I was trying to talk big, but in reality I was frightened. I could sense his tremendous demonic aura, and I knew he could kill me without even thinking about it.

"I said do not try my patience. Now tell me where InuYasha is," he said again. His face showed no emotions. I was suddenly struck by how much InuYasha and he looked alike. This demon was definitely order, but they had the same silver hair and the same golden eyes. I couldn't tell if the purple stripes on his face were scares or not, and a crescent moon marked his forehead.

"_Are they…brothers?"_ I thought. Out loud I said, "What if I don't feel like telling you anything?" It was a stupid thing to say, and I immediately regretted it coming out of my mouth, but that didn't change the fact that I had said it. Instantly, he had me pinned against a tree, his hand at my throat. I couldn't breathe.

"I'll ask you one more time," he said, his tone darker than before. "Where is the one that calls himself Kage?" I didn't answer, not out of defiance, but from lack of breath. He held me there for a few more seconds, and then released me. I fell once more to the ground, gasping for breath and clutching my throat. "It doesn't matter," he said. "He'll come looking for you."

"What do you want with him?" I asked, when I had found my voice again.

"I want to kill him." I gasped.

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And because I'm lazy, I'll end here. I kinda had to make Sesshoumaru-sama the bad guy in this chapter 'cause that's just how it turned out. Don't worry, Sesshy-lovers…if any of you are reading this…he won't always be the bad guy! Oh yeah, there were a few jokes in here that some of you might not get. Sadako was the girl that comes out of the well and kills you in _Ringu_, the Japanese _Ring_. Otoki was a character in the InuYasha game _Secret of the Cursed Mask_. She died. R&R!


	7. The Present Continuing

Chapter 6: The Present Continuing

Yami396

New chapter! And just for YuniX-2, we'll go back to the present. Warning: I'm beginning to get tricky with this story. You'll see why.

Disclaimer: I no own except for my made up characters. You no steal, I no sue. I no steal, you no sue.

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As I lay huddled in a ball in the attic, I listened for the sound of the door opening and shutting, signifying when Mitsu was leaving. I had sprinted up the stairs as soon as he got off the phone. He obviously still thought that I was in my room resting. I wiped sweat off my brow and tried to catch my breath.

Too many things were happening at once. Fleeting images of a past I never knew, and that silver-haired man were driving towards the brink of insanity. I put my face in my hands and stayed there for a few minutes, contemplating. I took a deep breath. I needed to be strong to find the truth.

There were many boxes in the attic. Luckily, since I was the one who packed most of them, I knew which ones would hold nothing of importance. I reached for the one that I knew held a shoebox full of old pictures. I smiled at them. They captured many happy moment of my life. There was one when I was seven, and another taken only a year ago. My smile faded though, when I looked at the picture of Horeshio. I remembered that day well. He was about four years old, and was giving the camera a very grudging look. The frown became deeper when I noticed a certain likeness to that silver haired man I had met earlier. True, the facial features were a bit off, and so were the eyes, but certain aspects of Horeshio's attitude were the same. And it would explain the silver streaks in his hair. I stared at the picture a bit more, and then put it aside. It was too early to think about Horeshio's father. I had to find out about myself first.

In other boxes, there were a few picture albums. I glanced at my watch. I didn't want Mitsu catching me up here. Something told me he wouldn't find it amusing, seeing me covered in dust looking at old pictures. I sighed again. Life was too stressful. Part of me wanted to give up my search and go on living my happy life the way it was before I started remembering these things. I reached for one of the albums. They were pictures from when I was still dating Mitsu. I smiled in spite of myself. There was I, young and inexperienced with a child, and there was Mitsu, always calm and collected, with no burdens whatsoever. I would find nothing in this one, even if it did bring back good memories. Unfortunately, all of the other albums I looked in were basically the same. I was either very young in all of them, or I was only a year or so younger in the other ones. I fought back the urge to curse, and instead tossed the album I was currently looking at to the ground, rising up another cloud of dust. Several pictures flew out because of my actions. I picked them up not really looking at them and looked for their places in the album.

They had none. I was perplexed. I knew they had come out of this album, so why was there no empty slots? I looked at the pictures and dropped them almost immediately. They were the very same pictures I had been searching for. I quickly grabbed the album and shook out the pages. Sure enough, about a dozen more photos came out, hidden behind the others. It made sense. I wasn't supposed to know about my past, so the safe thing to do was to hide the reminders. And where was the best place to hide something? In plain sight.

I looked at some of the pictures. They were mainly group shots, without me in them. I was left to guess that I was the one working the camera. There was one photo of only two people. One was a pretty young woman, maybe sixteen of seventeen, with long dark brown hair, smiling at them camera and the other was young a man about nineteen with his arm around her shoulders. It was easy to tell that they loved each other very much, and that they were both very happy. I felt a pang of resentment, but I chased it away. There was another photo of a small boy, and at closer examination appeared to be a demon. That stopped me in my tracks. Checking the back of the picture, I realized that it was taken around the time the Demonic Revolution had been at full blast. I stared at him a while longer. He was happy too, smiling up at the camera with a lollipop sticking out of his mouth. He did not seem to be involved in any of the fighting that had been going on at that time. They were still many pictures to examine, but I had the feeling that I was running out of time. I hurried to hide the photos once again in the album. One picture fell out of my grasp. I had not looked at that one yet, but when I looked, I was so shocked that I let out a yelp and threw the picture away from me as if it had burned my hand.

It was the silver haired man from before. I took several deep breaths. He had not looked at all older in the picture than how he was a few hours ago. I checked the date. September 1996. My blood ran cold. That was eight years ago. Yet he was the same age today as he was in the photo. Was he…could he possibly be…how could a demon survive the Demonic Revolution! I thought that all if not most of them had been killed. I closed my eyes, trying to regroup my thoughts.

_"It was a warm day. The kind of day I liked to spend outside with Sango-chan, Miroku-sama, Shippo-chan, and Kage."_

What on earth?

_"However, I had decided to spend my time with one of my more chilly acquaintances. "_

Was this what one would call a flashback? I could actually see myself slipping away from a group of people I was with into the forest that was behind me. So that's what I looked like when I was sixteen…

_"I knew he didn't care for my intrusions, but I couldn't help myself. It was one the faults Kikyo liked to bring up about me. I was too quick to trust someone, and I felt too much compassion. But I couldn't help it. It wasn't that I pitied him, I would never pity someone who had tried to kill both myself and Kage on more than one occasion, but I thought he might be a bit lonely or something."_

It was that name again. Kage. Obviously it was someone I knew. And who was this person, this man that I was referring to. Why had he tried to kill the mysterious Kage and me? I kept my eyes shut, afraid that if I opened them, the images that were playing like a movie in my mind would disappear.

_"Sesshoumaru-sama," I said, once I had found him. He must have known I would find him; his demonic aura was too great to miss, even for me. I sat down, leaning on a tree a few paces away from him. I was still a little edgy around him, even though I sad seen him countless times in the past few weeks. The memory of him trying to kill me was still fresh in my mind."_

I gasped. It was the silver haired man…Sesshoumaru-sama? Why the honorific? Why was he 'Lord' Sesshoumaru?

_"Why are you here mortal?" he asked me. I would have thought that by now he would have realized that I wouldn't leave._

_"Because I can," I answered. I deemed it safe enough to use cheek when talking to him. I didn't think he would pin me to tree as he did before._

_"They'll be looking for you," he said. I shook my head. They were too wrapped up in the letter that had recently arrived. It had nothing to do with me, so I took the opportunity to sneak off._

_"I'll go back when I hear them calling for me," I told him. He didn't say anything, and I took that as a good sign, and stayed there in silence. That was how it usually was, with the two of us saying nothing for the longest time until I started babbling about something._

_"Why do you come?" he asked suddenly. I looked at him in surprise._

_"What?" I asked._

_"Why do you come here?" he asked again. "You know that I want nothing more than to kill the one you call Kage, and I easily kill you now."_

_"But you don't," I said. "You haven't tried to kill me since we first met."_

_"That does not mean that I cannot."_

My breaths were starting to become irregular. The scene before my eyes dissipated into evanescence and I thought it was over, until another memory began to unfold. It was later in the season; the trees were beginning to change into their fall colors. Once again I was sitting a few trees away form where Sesshoumaru was, only this time I had something in my hands. It was a Polaroid camera.

_"Come on!" I said. "It's just one picture!"_

_"No," he said, remaining impassive. I had been bothering him about this for about twenty minutes, and he still refused to give in._

_"It's not like it's going to kill you!"_

_"No." I sighed. Everyone else had agreed to have their picture taken. I didn't see why Sesshoumaru-sama had to be any different. I looked down at the camera in my lap, and then back up to where he was. He had his eyes closed, as if he was thinking about something. A mischievous grin formed on my face. I quietly lifted the camera up, careful not to make any noise._

_"Sesshoumaru-sama!" I called. As I had hoped, he turned to look at me. I snapped his picture. I knew he had to have been at least a little surprised, even though he didn't show it. I smirked at him. "I told you I would get a picture," I said, wondering what he was thinking about. His eyes met mine, and something flickered in them so quickly that I barely even noticed it. Someone far away called for me._

_"Kagome-sama!" It was Miroku-sama. Sesshoumaru-sama looked away._

_"They're waiting for you," he said, rising up and walking off into the forest, leaving me to deal with my conflicting emotions._

I finally opened my eyes, gasping for breath. I had known him. I had known him from eight years ago. There was no mistaking it. And what of that flicker of emotion in his eyes? I hadn't known it then, but I realized it know as a sign of affection. I gripped my knees so hard that my knuckles turned white.

What if that little flicker of affection had turned into something much, much larger?

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Well, that was a plot twist! I am so going to be killed for this I know it. Anyway, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Who thinks they know who Horeshio's father is? R&R!


	8. The Past Continuing

Chapter 7: The Past Continuing

Yami396

And now we're back to the past. Some of what happened in the previous chapter will be better explained in this one.

Rin-chan Fans: I'm really sorry about what I had to do, but it was the only was to make this work.

YuniX-2: To answer your question, I will smile enigmatically and say yes.

Megan Consoer: Sorry, but I don't take requests. I already have the plotline figured out.

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I'm too tired to think up a witty comeback to that…

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To say that I wasn't nervous would be an understatement. I was petrified to the point where even my sarcasm didn't save me.

"Why?" I asked.

"Why what?" he answered. He had moved away from me, choosing to sit and lean against a tree a few feet away, watching me from emotionless eyes.

"Why do you want to kill him?" I asked. The eyes narrowed.

"I do not owe you any answers mortal," he snapped. I shivered, and not from coldness.

"Are you going to kill me?" I asked.

"If you keep asking me questions I will."

"If you kill me, then you won't get the jewel shards," I lied. My brain was beginning to work again. One eyebrow went up. "InuYasha has most of the jewel shards now. If you tell him you're holding me hostage, then he'll definitely trade the jewel shards for my life."

"I have no need for jewel shards," he said, slight amusement now in his voice. "And he wouldn't trade them for your life."

"Why not?" I asked, bristling. "What do you know about him?"

"More than you do." It was then that I noticed a similarity between InuYasha's half-demon form and this demon. They had the same hair color and the same eyes, though the shape was a little different. Could they be…

"Are you two…brothers?" I asked, my eyes widening. His already cold glare turned icy.

"He's my half-brother," he snapped. I jaw dropped open.

"Then why do you want to kill him?" I asked. He stood up, and faster than I could blink, he was standing in front of me. I yelped, but was so frozen in fear that I couldn't move.

"I have my reasons," he said, his voice dangerously low. "They are of no concern to you." He moved back to his original place, and I sunk to the ground, knees giving way because I had just realized who he was.

I was an idiot for not realizing sooner. Kikyo had told me about him during one of our more 'sisterly' moments. She had said to me that time that demon lords were our main enemies, and that if I saw one, I should try not to get involved in any way whatsoever. If she could only see me now. Not only had I managed to get myself kidnapped by a demon lord, I had managed to get myself kidnapped by Sesshoumaru-sama, the demon lord of the west, and one of the most powerful ones. It would be a miracle if I survived this, seeing as he was a merciless killer, who killed demons and humans alike, as was Kaikatsu Gin Kiraitsu. And he and Kage were…half-brothers? Kage could have mentioned that sooner!

"He comes," Sesshoumaru-sama said, looking up. I had the feeling that I had better keep up with the honorific.

"What?" I asked.

"That miserable half-breed is coming," he repeated. I flinched at the blatant degradation. Sure enough, Kage came crashing through the trees and undergrowth, with Shippo-chan at his heels.

"Kagome!" Shippo-chan wailed, jumping into my arms. "I thought you were gonna be eaten!" I would have laughed, if it were any other situation. I turned to look at Kage. His face had such a look of intense hatred on it, and I took an involuntary step back.

"Teme," he hissed.

"I have missed you too, little brother," Sesshoumaru-sama replied mockingly.

"Bastard. You can't wield Tetsusaiga, you should know that!" Kage snarled.

"I have long given up on that useless sword," he said coolly. "I want something else now." Sesshoumaru-sama lunged at him quickly, knocking Kage back several feet. "Slow as ever, InuYasha."

"I'm just getting started," Kage said, drawing Tetsusaiga. "Just tell me one thing before I kill you. What is this thing you want?"

"Think, you pathetic half-breed," came the reply, his voice becoming noticeably colder. "Think back two years ago, before you could control yourself."

_"What?"_ I thought. InuYasha stopped suddenly.

"I never meant…" he trailed off suddenly as if remembering something that was too painful to bear.

"You killed her." Sesshoumaru-sama didn't wait for an answer; he lunged again at InuYasha, who this time was ready and leaped back. Soon they had both drawn their swords and were leaping at each other, forgetting that Shippo-chan and I were watching.

I could feel my heart beating painfully in my chest, and it wasn't from worry that one or the other was going to get killed. It was also from that previous conversation. From the sound of it, InuYasha really had killed someone. Some girl that had seemed to be close to Sesshoumaru-sama. And what was that whole thing about 'before you could control yourself?' What did that mean? InuYasha was yelling again.

"You could have brought her back," he yelled as he blocked his brother's strikes.

"With her body as broken and mangled as it was, she would have died again," Sesshoumaru-sama said. He was beginning to lose his icy exterior, his anger evident.

"Why should you care?" InuYasha asked tauntingly. "Were you in love with her?" That struck a nerve. Faster than anything I had ever seen, Sesshoumaru-sama punched him, hard, sending InuYasha flying into a tree, where he fell to the ground unmoving. I almost ran over to him, if Shippo-chan hadn't yelled, "Don't!" I froze midway into a step and forced myself to think rationally. If I ran in there, I would probably be killed. And I didn't have my arrows either. I could have screamed in frustration.

"Look," Shippo-chan whispered suddenly. I turned to see InuYasha getting up, but something was different. His movements were detached, and for the first time, I noticed rosary beads around his neck. The string holding them together had snapped, and even though InuYasha was trying to hold them together, a few of the beads had fallen off. But there was something else. His demonic aura was different. It was more powerful, more evil. I was standing off to one side, so when he lifted his head, I couldn't see what happened. I couldn't even move, that was how powerful his aura was. All I saw was Sesshoumaru-sama freeze in mid-stride, eyes widening for an instant, before he pointed his sword at InuYasha and a loud explosion rocked the ground, causing me to fall over. That done, he turned around and began to leave.

"You're just going to leave after all that!" I yelled after him.

"Yes." That stopped me for a few seconds.

"What did you do to him?"

"I rendered him unconscious. You might want to make yourself useful human, and fix the rosary before he regains consciousness."

"Why?" He never answered. He disappeared into the shadows. I bit my lip, resisting the urge to scream again and examined the broken rosary. It would be easy to fix, seeing that all I had to do was replace the fallen beads and retie the string. I examined them when I had found all of them. There were black circular ones and a few white ones, shaped something like a claw. I put them in what seemed to be the correct pattern, and with a little help from Shippo-chan, tied the string. For good measure, I picked up Tetsusaiga from where it had fallen and put in back into its sheath, watching as InuYasha's silver hair faded to the black of Kage's. On an impulse, I began to stroke his head, running my fingers through his hair. I was surprised to find that it was softer than I had imagined it to be. I had thought, since he was a dog demon from the looks of it, that his hair would be coarser, more like a dog's.

"Shippo-chan, do you have any idea about hat's going on here?" I asked him. He didn't answer as I had expected him to. He was just as confused as I was, if not more. I looked at Kage again. He was such a mystery. No doubt, when Kikyo and Great-Aunt Kaede found out about this little episode, there would be hell to pay. I wondered if they knew that he was a half-demon. I couldn't sense any demonic power coming from him when he was in his human form, but then again, I wasn't exactly the world's greatest priestess.

Kage returned to the world of the living in a few hours, and had quite effectively cursed out his older brother, while I held Shippo-chan's ears shut. After a few more grouses and muted obscenities, we headed out in search of more jewel shards. While we found more demons than I could keep track of, we only found three more shards. We also heard a rumor that there were more people looking for them, one of them being a demon only known as Naraku and nothing else. Anybody we questioned either knew nothing or was unwilling to tell us anything. It had gotten us kicked out of several inns, so we learned not to bring up the subject unless someone else mentioned it first.

And then there was Sesshoumaru-sama. He seemed determined to kill Kage for whatever had been done to him two years ago. He had ambushed us several times already, even though each time, I had noticed he had chances to kill Kage and never took them. And Kage didn't make things any easier. He would not for the life of him answer any of my questions about what had happened two years ago.

"Did you really kill someone?" I asked. He was beginning to realize that I wasn't dissuaded easily.

"It doesn't matter," he said, looking away.

"That's not what I'm asking. I'm asking if you've killed anyone."

"No."

"Then why does he insist on you killing someone?" I asked.

"Because he's a bastard," he suggested. I sighed.

"You know you can tell me. I won't tell anyone else," I said. He looked at me, and his eyes seemed hollow.

"There are many things you don't about me," he said. "And it's for the best that you don't find out." That was the end of that conversation.

About a week and a half after that conversation, I found myself wandering through yet another forest, this time looking for acorns for Shippo-chan. The little Kitsune had a slight thing for acorns and since we had nothing to do anyway, I had volunteered to find them. Kage was too busy cleaning Tetsusaiga to even notice that I had gone.

"It is dangerous to wander around in a forest by yourself human. Where is your beloved Kage?" The voice directly behind me made me choke on air, and spin around, dropping all my acorns.

"Why?" Was all I could get out, the side effects of choking on air still holding me in their grasp.

"I am here because I want to be here," Sesshoumaru-sama said simply. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Doing that could mean death.

"You two should stop fighting," I said. "It's really annoying when you're walking all calm and relaxed and then you're suddenly thrust into battle." He had no answer to that, instead he just studied me, which naturally mace me very uncomfortable.

"You should go back before they begin to look for you," he said, turning around to leave. I had the sudden crazy urge to pick up the nearest stone and throw it at him so that I could ask him some questions, but the sensible part of me told me I really would die if I did that. So I picked up the fallen acorns and walked back to where my friends were waiting, trying to figure out how I was going to get answers.

It had been about a month since I had broken the Sacred Jewel, when we acquired two new friends. It turned out that they had been traveling together since they had found out by chance that they were both looking for jewel shards. One was Sango-sama, one of the last of the demon slayers. She was looking for her brother, who had disappeared after their village had been destroyed. The other was Miroku-sama, a traveling monk, with a Wind Tunnel in his hand, a tribute from the ever-infamous Naraku. Neither one of them had made a first good impression on Kage, Sango-sama trying to kill him with her Hiraiktsu, and once that was over with, Miroku-sama coming on to me.

"So tell me Kagome-sama," he said smoothly. "Do you have any boyfriends?" The question caught me off guard.

"No," I said.

"Then will you do me one favor?" he asked.

"Sure?" I said, not very uncertain where this was leading.

"Will you bear my children?"

"What!" I screeched, jerking my hand out of his. Sango-sama promptly hit him over the head with her Hiraiktsu.

"I told you to stop asking women that!" she yelled. "I'm sorry Kagome-sama. He's harmless," she said, turning to me.

"It's okay. I'm more worried about Kage," I said, and we both turned to see him glowering at Miroku-sama.

"He deserves it," she said. "You don't have to call me Sango-sama. I'm far from a lady," she said laughing. I smiled. She was very pretty.

"Fine, but then you can't call me Kagome-sama then," I said. She nodded. I could tell, that we would become great friends. Besides, it would be nice to have another girl traveling around with us. It got kind of boring with only two guys to talk to.

"So how many jewel shards do you have, Kagome-sama?" Miroku-sama asked me.

"Ten," I said.

"We have eight," Sango-chan said.

"Maybe we can work together and find the remaining ones," Miroku-sama suggested.

"That's a great idea!" I said. "What do you think Kage?"

"I think it's stupid, but if you want to fine," he replied. He was still upset over the whole Hikariktsu incident.

Not surprisingly, since we had no way of telling which direction we were supposed to be headed, we found that we had managed to circle back to the forest where I had first met Sesshoumaru-sama. Kage cursed a bit at the lost time, but Miroku-sama said that it was all for the better, and that we could stay at the inn there. However, when I relayed all that had happened there, he quickly changed his mind, and we decided to camp out outside again. While Kage and Miroku-sama were bickering over the newly arrived letter, courtesy of a girl that looked very suspicious, I felt the presence of a very familiar demonic aura, and quietly slipped into the forest unnoticed.

"Sesshoumaru-sama," I said, once I had found him. He must have known I would find him; his demonic aura was too great to miss, even for me. I sat down, leaning on a tree a few paces away from him. I was still a little edgy around him, even though I sad seen him countless times in the past few weeks. The memory of him trying to kill me was still fresh in my mind.

"Why are you here mortal?" he asked me. I would have thought that by now he would have realized that I wouldn't leave. Even though we had only met like this twice, he was beginning to understand my personality, and I his.

"Because I can," I answered. I deemed it safe enough to use cheek when talking to him. I didn't think he would pin me to tree as he did before.

"They'll be looking for you," he said. I shook my head. They were too wrapped up in their letter that had recently arrived. It had nothing to do with me, so I was safe for the time being until they realized I was gone.

"I'll go back when I hear them calling for me," I told him. He didn't say anything, and I took that as a good sign, and stayed there in silence. That was how it usually was, with the two of us saying nothing for the longest time until I started babbling about something.

"Why do you come?" he asked suddenly. I looked at him in surprise.

"What?" I asked.

"Why do you come here?" he asked again. "You know that I want nothing more than to kill the one you call Kage, and I easily kill you now."

"But you don't," I said. "You haven't tried to kill me since we first met."

"That does not mean that I cannot."

"Once again, you don't," I said.

"You remind me of someone," he said.

"Hm?" I asked, not really paying attention.

"You remind me of a woman I once knew. She was not afraid of me either." That was a lie. I was still frightened of him, just not as much as before.

"Really?" I asked.

"She was more mature than you are." I had the feeling that he said that just to make me angry. It worked.

"I'm very mature for my age!" I said, sitting up straighter and tossing my hair back.

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen," I said with pride.

"She was eighteen."

"Oh," I said, deflating a bit. "What was her name?"

"Rin." I was getting tired of monosyllable answers.

"What happened to her?" As soon as I said that, the air became very tense, and colder. I regretted saying anything.

"She's dead," he said, surprising me with an answer.

"I'm sorry," I said in a small voice.

"I don't want your pity human," he said.

"I'm not giving you pity," I snapped. "I was just trying to be nice!"

"Do you want to know how she died?" he asked suddenly. I was so taken aback from the question, that all I could do was nod my head mutely. "She was killed," he said. "By a demon." As soon as he said that, I realized exactly who she was. She was that mysterious was that girl, woman, who Sesshoumaru-sama said Kage had killed two ears ago, before he could control himself, what ever that meant.

"You mean Kage killed her," I asked slowly.

"No," he said. My jaw dropped.

"Then why do you insist that he killed her?" I asked.

"Kage did not kill her. Rather, it was another part of him that did," he explained, confusing me even more.

"I don't understand," I said, annoyed.

"When the rosary he wears breaks, his other self, his true form, comes out," he said.

"His true form? Like his half-demon form?" I asked.

"No. He transforms into-" he was cut off.

"Kagome-sama!" Miroku-sama was calling me. I looked over to where his voice was coming from and then back to Sesshoumaru-sama, but he was gone. I sighed. My life was getting too complicated and too confusing. I wanted to know what InuYasha's true form was. The un-answered question was burning a whole into my brain. And what exactly was this Rin to Sesshoumaru-sama? Was she that important to him that he would still be angry even after two years?

All these questions I wrote down in my diary. I had brought a new one with me so I could record everything that happened to me while I was looking for shards. Usually, I only started a new one when the New Year came around, but I hadn't wanted to run out of pages.

"What cha writing?" Shippo-chan asked, looking over my shoulder.

"Don't look!" I scolded. "It's rude to read someone else's diary." Kage rolled his eyes.

"What a waste of time and ink," he said. "Human women are such strange creatures." I didn't know whether or not that was an insult.

"Now, now Kage," Miroku-sama said. "You shouldn't pick a fight with a lady."

"Feh, she ain't no lady," he said. I bristled.

"Of course not. You're much more of a lady than I am," I said sweetly, enjoying the furious blush that spread across his face and the laughter of the others.

"Shut up! It's not funny!" he yelled. We only laughed harder, especially when Shippo-chan transformed into an exact likeness of Kage wearing a pink dress. By that time, Kage had enough, and he was chasing Shippo-chan around a tree, yelling threats to anyone who tried to stop him.

"He's so energetic," Miroku-sama observed.

"He's an idiot," I said. Sango nodded.

"A true simpleton," she agreed.

"I see you're all having fun. Give up on trying to find the jewel shards?" My sister's voice stopped me cold.

"Kikyo!" I said, jumping up. "Why are you here?"

"Mother wants to have a few choice words with you," she said. I paled. Mother was generally a very nice person unless someone did something terribly wrong. I had the sinking feeling that this was one of those times.

"How did you find us?" I asked. She smiled, though it wasn't a warm one.

"It's not that hard, seeing as you have eighteen jewel shards. I could sense them from a mile away." There she went again, looking down at me as if I was lower than dirt. Of course, I couldn't say anything, and I didn't have a choice except to follow Kikyo back home with my friends and hope that Mother wasn't too mad at me.

It was pretty bad. I could tell from the moment that she looked at me that I was in deep trouble.

"You broke the Sacred Jewel?" she asked.

"Yes," I said bowing my head. She didn't see me; she had turned back to the window.

"And you're traveling around with a half-demon who could be potentially dangerous, a lecherous monk, and a demon slayer whom you know nothing about?" I didn't bother asking her how she knew all this. Kikyo must have had somebody follow us and report back to her.

"Yes."

"And do you have any feelings towards any of them, particularly Kage or Miroku?"

"No!" I said desperately. I knew exactly where this was going. Even my mother, who could accept anyone or anything, harbored a dislike of half-demons and demons in general. I couldn't blame her; Kaikatsu Gin Kiraitsu did kill her husband. Still, this interrogation was unfair. "We're just friends, that's all," I said.

"Are you sure?" she asked. I nodded, realizing that she could see my reflection in the window. "And what about your secret meetings with that demon lord?"

"What!" I asked. This interrogation was completely unfair. I wanted nothing more than to run out of the room.

"Don't lie to me Kagome," she said. "I know you've been meeting him. Care to tell me what exactly you were talking about?"

"Mom!" I pleaded. "It's not what you think! I was just curious!"

"You're too curious for your own good," she said. "I'm beginning to wonder if maybe sending you to find the shards was a bad idea. Kikyo would have been the better choice." I was almost crying from the injustice of to all.

"But don't you need Kikyo here to keep the house safe?" I asked. Mother began to think.

"Yes, we do need her here. But I can't have you running around the countryside with these new friends of yours," she said. I was ready to beg her to let me. It was the first time in my life that I had felt like I belonged, like I was needed.

"Mother, you can trust me," I said. "I'm not going to do something stupid."

"You do realize, to maintain your stasis as a junior priestess, you can't have feeling for men," she said and I detected some sympathy in her voice. "To keep your powers, you have to remain a virgin."

"Mom! What do I look like?" I asked, shocked that she would even imply something like that. "I told you! I'm not going to do something stupid!"

"It's not you whom I do not trust. It's those around you who I do not trust."

………………………………………………………………………………...

And I'll leave it off there. I'm really sorry for screwing up Rin-chan's age and then killing her off, but I really did have to. It wouldn't have worked any other way. And I'm not going to chop off Sesshoumaru-sama's arm in this fic; it stays! This is not going to follow the anime or manga closely. R&R!


	9. The Present Moment

Chapter 8: The Present Moment

Yami396

I came back…I just don't have the time I had in the summer to make a chapter every day.

YuniX-2: Yep! Dramatics! Present chapter for you.

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha. I only own Horeshio, Anasuteijia, Samisu, and Mitsu. They are my copyright and may only be used with written permission by…moue.

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I studied Horeshio's face at dinner. He didn't seem to notice, nor did anyone else present.

"Too bushy," I mumbled looking down at my plate. Mitsu looked over at me.

"What?" he asked. "What did you just say?"

"I said my eyebrows are too bushy," I lied, waving my hand. "I'll have to get them done soon. Mitsu's eyebrows rose.

"Aren't we going to a funeral in a week?" he asked.

"Yes."

"And you're getting your eyebrows done?" The skepticism was evident in his voice.

"Yes."

"Shouldn't you be in mourning?"

"Yes." He wasn't about to get anymore out of me. I didn't trust myself enough to say anything more than a simple 'yes' or 'no,' lest I say something that made him more suspicious than he already was. I, however, had a few questions for him, and he was going to answer them, whether he wanted to or not. "How's Mom?" I asked him.

"Huh?" He wasn't expecting that.

"I wanted to know if you knew how Mom was. You know, with all the pressures of the funeral and such," I said, my sad smile only half-faked.

"Oh, she's doing okay," he said, with a shrug of his shoulders.

"He went out to see her today," Horeshio said. Mitsu glared at him, but Horeshio gave the same look back at him until Mitsu was forced to look away. Horeshio glanced at me before going back to concentrating on his food, and I swore I saw him grin at me.

"You did?" I asked, trying to act oblivious. After an uncomfortable pause, Mitsu answered.

"Yeah, she called me over," he said. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from saying, 'I know.'

"Why?" I asked. It was an honest enough question to ask. I must have seemed to him merely curious as to why my mother would want to talk to her son-in-law instead of her daughter, rather than trying to coax information out of him.

"I told her you weren't feeling well and she didn't want to make you feel worse, so she talked to me," he explained.

"She could have talked to us later today or even tomorrow," I countered. Mitsu's jaw tightened.

"It was very important," he said slowly.

"What was so important that it couldn't wait?" I asked. Mitsu temper exploded.

"Why all these questions!" he yelled. Damn it! I pushed too hard. "Is this a damn interrogation!" He glared at me. I had to think quick to erase the damage I caused.

"I was only curious," I explained, ducking my head and looking at him through me bangs. " I haven't seen Mom in a long time, and I was a little hurt that she didn't want to talk to me." That was a flat-out lie. I didn't talk to my mother much, nor did I want to. The conversation always turned to Kikyo, and what Kikyo was doing, and look at all the accomplishments Kikyo had. Kikyo was my sore spot. My lie did the trick though. Mitsu calmed down almost instantly, the angry red leaving his face, an embarrassed red taking its place.

"Sorry," he said. "I felt that you didn't trust me with all those question you were asking," he said. He was right. I didn't trust him. "That's why I blew up."

"It's okay," I said. I couldn't ask him anymore questions tonight. I would have to wait awhile and let him forget about it.

"He's lying," Horeshio said, not even bothering to look up this time. "He's hiding something." I snuck a look at Mitsu through the corner of my eye. He was glaring at Horeshio again, this time with a lot more animosity than before, though the look was being coolly ignored by the receiver. "He wasn't just with Grandma, he was with Aunt Kikyo too." My head snapped to look at Mitsu before I could stop myself. To my surprise, Mitsu was staring at Horeshio in shock.

"How did you know that?" he asked.

"You were with Kikyo?" I snapped.

"I just know," Horeshio answered. He was way too mature for an eight-year-old. Mitsu looked at me for support, and cowered under my glare.

"And pray tell me why you left that little bit of info out," I said, tone deadly soft.

"Now Kagome," he began, but I cut him off.

"Don't 'now Kagome' me! Why were you with her?"

"Because she was there!" he snapped. "What was I supposed to tell her? To leave?" I clenched my jaw. He was right. I was overreacting and behaving like a spoiled brat. "Do you really hate your sister that much?" he asked.

"It's not that I hate her," I explained. "We don't see eye to eye. She's the older, more mature one, and I guess we've always been in competition with one another to see who's better, and I've always lost out."

"Tell me about it," Mitsu said, his tone implying a joke, but I didn't miss the quick glance at Horeshio that implied something darker. "Kikyo was always the more serious one." He said something else quietly under his breath that I didn't catch, but Horeshio's head shot up, eyes blazing. Mitsu leaned back in his chair and I was shocked at the intensity of hatred in Horeshio's eyes. Something tugged at my mind, and I could almost feel a sort of aura emanating around him. It was so familiar…yet I couldn't quite place what it reminded me of.

"Teme," Horeshio said, a biting edge creeping into his young voice. His use of language seemed to jolt Mitsu out of his fear-induced stupor and he leaned across the table hand outstretched to smack him before I could yell for him to stop. Horeshio nimbly dodged the slap, and it hit Anasuteijia instead of Horeshio. There was a deadly silence, save for Anasuteijia's quiet whimpering. Samisu put his arms around his sister, and she buried her face into his shoulder, the red mark on her cheek standing out against the paleness of her face. Horeshio looked from me to Mitsu and then to Anasuteijia and Samisu, who regarded him rather fearfully.

"Mitsu," I said, knowing only too well that my eyes had taken on the icy quality that Kikyo always wore.

"It was an accident," he defended himself. "I was aiming for Horeshio."

"Oh I know who you were aiming for," I said, my voice quiet. "And I know it was an accident. But you still tried to slap him."

"He deserved it!"

"It's up to me to decide whether or not he deserves to get slapped," I snapped, my voice still holding that same foreboding quietness. "He is my son."

"And you've done a fine job of raising him too," Mitsu replied scathingly. My eyes flashed, and the priestess blood that flowed through my veins crackled with energy.

"Are you implying that I don't know how to raise my own son?"

"How much can you know about raising a child when you don't even know who his father is?" My aura exploded into a blue barrier around me. Everyone in the room took a step back.

"Go upstairs," I said. "Your father and I have to do some talking." Samisu half dragged, half carried Anasuteijia upstairs and Horeshio slowly made his way after them, watching me the whole way up.

"You need to calm down," Mitsu told me. The only answer he received was an increase in spiritual power that made my aura crackle.

"You need to control you temper," I said.

"Look who's talking!" I set my jaw, and then very slowly and deliberately decreased my power until the barrier disappeared. "That's better." I narrowed my eyes at him. He was treating me like I was some kind of pet.

"I want you to apologize to Anasuteijia, if she'll still talk to you that is," I said, turning my back on him.

"Where are you going?"

"To bed. And don't even think about joining me. You can sleep on the couch tonight for all I care right now," I said, slamming the bedroom door. I heard Mitsu's frustrated yell and then the sound of the back door being opened and then slammed shut. My knees finally gave out, and I crashed to floor, letting all the tears I had help in since Mitsu slapped Anasuteijia flow to the floor, staining the carpet dark blue.

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Aaarrrggghhhh! Such a short chapter! But for some reason, it seemed fitting to end it here. At least that's what my psyche told me to do. Ahh, poor Kagome. I'm putting her through all sorts of hell in this fanfic…and I'm warning you, it's going to get a lot worse before it starts to get better…if it gets better at all that is…(evil laughter…)


	10. The Past Moment

Chapter 9: The Past Moment

Yami 396

Eat, sleep, work, and try to update. That's what my life has become.

YuniX-2: Wow, that's a lot of hours. Thanks for the review!

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Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha! Lawyers get back! I warn you, I'm rabid!

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I walked around the grounds that surrounded my home. They were extensive, and it was easy for strangers to get lost in them. In the years before the Demonic Revolutions began, people used to come here to pray and ask for blessings. Nowadays, people came with their dead husbands or wives or children or friends to have their souls prayed over for a safe passage into the afterlife.

The scenery around the shrine was beautiful, and normally I would have stopped and admired it, but today I was fuming. My whole conversation with Mother was replaying in my head, and each time it played, the angrier I got. She said she doesn't trust those around me, but I also knew she didn't trust me too. I sighed. My mother had changed. Before Father died, she used to be so carefree and nice, smiling all the time. Now her smile was worn, and fatigue, constant worry, and anger had etched its way into her face forever. I stopped when I reached the Go-Shinboku. It was sacred, and I had often come here to pray. After Father died, I had practically lived here for months, praying for a miracle to happen, praying for my father to come back and tell me everything was going to be okay. I put my hand on the bark, and felt the familiar surge of small power rush from the trunk, into my hand, and into my veins. It had a calming effect and I titled my head back and stared up into the branches. Kage was up there somewhere; I could see the blackness of his hair against the green and brown of the leaves and branches.

"Kage," I called, hoping that he would come down and talk to me.

"Feh," he answered, and made no move to come down.

"Why don't you come down and talk to me?" I asked him.

"Why would you want to talk to me wench?" he snapped. I blinked.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Go talk to my bastard of a half-brother if you want to talk that much!" Now I understood.

"You heard me talking to my mother, didn't you?" I said, hanging my head. The window had been open. Anybody could have easily heard us, especially since I yelled so loudly. "How much did you hear?"

"All of it."

"She didn't mean it."

"Mean what?"

"When she said she didn't trust those around me. She doesn't trust anybody in general," I explained.

"Who said anything about that?" he snapped again. "I was wondering why you kept sneaking into the forest all the time!" Was he still hung up on that? Okay, I admit it. It was stupid of me to keep it a secret, but it wasn't like it was some kind of moonlit tryst!

"Why are you acting like such a baby!" I screamed up at him. "I'm sorry, okay! Forget about it!" I stormed off. I didn't realize that I had headed to my father's grave until I was nearly standing on it. I sat down beside the tombstone and cried. For some reason, I felt sick at heart, like I had betrayed Kage or something. He must have been furious, even more so that I hadn't even told him, that he had to hear from someone else. I sobbed harder. I didn't want Kage mad at me. I wanted so desperately for him to like me. I didn't know why, but I did.

"Kagome-sama?" Miroku's voice tentatively called me. I looked up, knowing my face was a mess.

"Yeah?" I asked. He sat down beside me.

""Are you upset about what your mother told you?" he asked.

"You heard too?"

"You yell very loudly Kagome-sama. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone heard you."

"Gee, thanks," I replied.

"That's not the reason you're upset though, is it?" he said, becoming serious. I nodded.

"Kage and I had a fight," I explained, suddenly feeling very stupid at the moment.

"That's understandable, given Kage's feelings towards his brother. You did nothing wrong, Kagome-sama. It'll be best if you let him regain control over his feelings again. I'm sure he'll cool off soon enough," Miroku said, obviously trying to make me feel better. I gave him a watery smile.

"Sometimes you surprise me," I told him, standing up. "I'm beginning to think you might actually have a good side."

"I'm always here to serve you, Kagome-sama," he said, with a glint in his eyes. I had already learned to fear that glint, and I slapped him before he could touch me.

"Perv," I called over my shoulder, watching him laugh and rub his cheek as I walked away.

In about a week, we were ready to leave again. My brother, Sota, wanted to come with us, but I told him it was too dangerous and he might have to see blood and guts, which made him back out from wanting to go.

"I have heard rumors that there were jewel shards in the eastern territories," Great-Aunt Kaede told us. "Ye should search there."

"Thank you," I said, bowing. "Here are the jewel shards we've collected so far." I handed her the small bundle. "Can you keep them safe for us?" She nodded, and walked off with them, heading towards the shrine where the jewel was originally kept. She was probably going to purify them of any taint they might have acquired, even though I thought I did a good job of doing that already. As soon as we left the shrine gates, Kage turned to me, complaining.

"Why did you let the old hag have the jewel shards?" he asked.

"Because it rightfully belongs to us," I explained. "When the jewel was created, it was entrusted to our family to keep it safe. It's been handed down to each generation."

"So your family has had it for centuries?" Sango asked. I nodded.

"Most of my family is priests and priestess. Not counting the few exceptions, like my grandfather. He has no powers at all, though he likes to brag about that time that he chased off a badger in one of the storage houses." I grinned at the look on Sango's face. This was one of my favorite stories to tell about my grandfather. "He seemed to think it was some kind of demon, and he took a whole bunch of ofuda charms and put them all on the building. When the badger didn't come out, he asked Sota for help. Sota went and got a firecracker. Grandpa thought it was some kind of demon repelling thing. He lit it, and he threw it in the storage building." At this point, everyone except for Kage was laughing too hard to walk, and I was grinning like a madwoman. "You should have seen that thing go off. It was actually raining flaming ofuda charms. And figure this, the badger had enough sense to get out before it blew up. Grandpa is still in denial, no matter what we tell him. He won't admit that he was wrong."

"Idiots," Kage said, and walked off.

"I guess he's still mad," I said sadly. Shippo-chan jumped into my arms.

"He's the idiot," he said. "He's so immature."

Even with everyone else's support, I still felt as if it was my fault. Kage didn't speak to me, except to demand his ramen, which I served to him either too hot or too cold to eat, and he pointedly ignored my attempts to talk to him. I settled into a gloomy silence walked a little apart from the group. Soon enough, I became lost in the broad expanse of the forest.

"Sango, Miroku, Shippo-chan? Anybody hear me?" I called. "Hello? Do you even realize I'm gone?"

"Whom are you talking to?" a voice asked me, from my right. I jumped and spun around. A girl, as least I thought it was a girl; the voice was pretty feminine, was sitting on a boulder a little away from me, and was watching in fascination.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Lost," she replied. "Where are you headed?" I couldn't detect any kind of demonic aura around the girl, and she seemed nice enough, so I told her.

"East with my friends," I said. She smiled brightly.

"So am I. Can I follow you for a little bit?" The pleading look she gave me was too powerful to resist, so I let her join me in my search, and amazingly enough, she helped me find them in a few minutes.

"Kagome!" Shippo-chan yelled. "I thought we'd lost you!" He was almost crying.

"I was only gone ten minutes," I said.

"Who's that?" Shippo-chan asked me, looking over at the girl. She smiled at him.

"I'm Hotaru," she said. "I got lost in the forest, and Miko-sama found and helped me." I blushed at the title.

"You can call me Kagome," I mumbled.

"Such a pretty girl," Miroku said. Hotaru backed away.

"Don't you dare touch her, Houshi-sama!" Sango yelled, preparing her Hiraikotsu. Miroku shrunk back, and Hotaru backed up even further.

"It's okay," I told her. "This is normal."

"I'd hate to see weird," she replied dryly. "Kind of reminds me of home." I was surprised to see sadness in her eyes.

"Hey, are your eyes black?" I asked her. She looked up, surprised.

"Yeah, they're strange like that. People think I'm possessed or something," she said, with a laugh.

"Creepy," Shippo-chan said. I was about to admonish him for saying that, but Hotaru turned around calmly and fixed him with an unwavering gaze until he looked to me for support. She blinked and smiled.

"Are we going to get going or what?" she asked. "Let's go!"

"We're lost," I said, two hours later. "We are completely and utterly lost."

"More like hopelessly wandering around in circles," Hotaru corrected. "That tree looks familiar. Kage, are you sure you know where you're going?"

"Shut up wench!" he snapped. "I know what I'm doing!"

"Typical male," she answered back. "Won't ask for directions."

"I said shut up!"

"Come over here and make me!"

"Stop it!" I yelled. "You're a bunch of two-year-olds!"

"I have a mind set of a four-year-old," Hotaru said. "Not a two-year-old." I tried to glare at her, but with her black eyes, it was difficult to stare for too long.

"Fog's coming in," Sango interrupted. Sure enough, as thick fog had already blanketed the landscape, and we could no longer see in front of us.

"This is unnatural," I said. "Fog does not just pop out of nowhere. And it's cold too!"

"We should turn back," Hotaru said, all hints of playfulness gone now. "It's too dangerous."

"Scared of the fog?" Kage taunted her.

"Scared of what's in it," she replied. She looked dead serious. "Always fear the fog of the east." Kage looked a little taken aback.

"What's in the fog?" I asked her.

"You'll see," she replied ominously. "It's already too late to turn back now. You're little demon friend, Shippo, isn't here." I gasped. True, we had lost track of Shippo. I called out for him, but Hotaru placed a hand over my mouth to stop me. "Be quiet or they'll find us! He'll be okay. They don't go after demons, and no one's stupid enough to travel this far up anyway, demon of not!" I shrugged out of her grasp.

"He could freeze out there!" I yelled.

"It's only cold in the fog! Now shut up!" she snapped in a loud whisper.

"Someone's coming," Kage announced. When I looked, I could see a light coming towards us from the distance. Besides me, Hotaru groaned.

"They've found us," she moaned. "Not good! Not good!"

"Who are they?" I asked. She only shook her head.

"It doesn't matter," Kage scoffed. "I can take 'em." With that, he drew Tetsusaiga, but he didn't transform. Hotaru looked at him.

"You're a half-demon, aren't you?" she asked. He glared at her for a minute and then nodded quickly. "I had the feeling you were one when you were able to pass through the barrier. It doesn't let demons in, only humans. Your demon blood's been purified, so to speak." Kage opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted.

"Excuse me, are you lost?" We all turned, except for Hotaru, and stared. It was a woman who had spoken, and I could already see Miroku sizing her up. She was beautiful, with long black hair hanging loose to her waist, violet eyes, and a voluptuous figure, which her clothes showed off the most extreme degree. Kage had lost his voice, and Miroku was too busy looking, so I answered.

"Yes," I said. She barely glanced at me; she was too busy with Kage and Miroku. She smiled at them.

"You must be cold. Please come with me. I know where a place to stay at." Miroku nodded frantically, and Kage just stared at her, his gaze occasionally flicking to her chest and then back to her face. I tried not to be angry with him, it wasn't his fault; her dress took no pains to hide her chest. Sango, on the other hand, looked ready to kill Miroku.

"I don't think we need to stay in a brothel," Sango snapped acridly, seizing Miroku by the arm and dragging him away from the woman. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, and she finally seemed to realize that Sango and I were there.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the woman said, trying to retrieve the friendly tone she had used beforehand, but it came out sounding forced. Sango glared at her.

"What's the matter Mari-chan?" Hotaru asked from behind us. I jumped; I had forgotten she was even there. "Did they forget to warn you that there were girls with them? Or were you too eager to seduce them that you forgot?" The woman, Mari, glared at Hotaru, whose face was hidden behind her hair.

"Who dares address me on such familiar terms," she hissed.

"I do," Hotaru declared, tossing back her hair to reveal her face to Mari. Mari stared at her for a moment and then suddenly rushed off to hug Hotaru.

"Yami-chan!" she yelled. "Is that really you?"

"What?" Sango asked me. I shrugged, just as confused.

"Get off of me! You reek of humans!" Hotaru (Yami?) pushed her off. "It's only been a few centuries at most. It's not like it's been forever!" Now I was really confused. I cleared my throat, loudly, and Hotaru (Yami?) grinned sheepishly at me. "Oh yeah. Sorry about this. Umm, my name isn't really Hotaru. It's Yami. I'm not human. I'm demon."

"You said demons couldn't get through the barrier," Miroku said. "Yet you can get through.

"It depends on what kind of demon you are," Yami explained. "Mari-chan here, she's a demon. She's a succubus." Sango looked affronted.

"There aren't anymore succubi in Japan!" she said. "They were driven out years ago!" Yami grinned.

"The eastern lands are the only lands that still have succubi inhabiting them. That's why I wanted to come up here," she explained. "I'm half succubus."

"You're what?" Kage asked, momentarily regaining use of his voice. Yami rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm half succubus," she said slowly and loudly. "And half dog demon, such as yourself. Sango, you should realize who I am. You too, Kagome." I racked my memory, trying to remember Kikyo or Mother telling me anything about a half dog demon, half succubi named Yami. I drew a blank, but Sango started suddenly.

"You're the oldest daughter of the Demon Lord of the East!" she said. Yami grinned harder.

"My father died some centuries ago," she said. "I'm the one holding the title now." Kage's jaw dropped open.

"Wait," I said. "You're the Demon Lord of the East?" Yami made a choking sound.

"Lordess! Lordess!" she yelled. "People always forget the 'ess!'"

"There's no such word as 'lordess'," Mari quietly explained. "You're the Demon 'Lady'." Yami sniffed.

"There's such a thing as a lordess if I say so," she said. Mari rolled her eyes.

"It's late," she said to us. "Would you like to stay with the succubus and incubus for a while?" she asked.

"I can tell them not to come near any of you," Yami offered. "They'll listen to me." Sango still looked iffy. "You can sleep on a bed instead of on the cold floor," Yami tempted.

"Great," I said. Yami grinned.

"I knew that would get you," she said to me. She turned to Mari. "One of their friends, a kitsune named Shippo, is stuck somewhere outside of the barrier. Can you go get him and bring him with us?" she asked. Mari nodded.

"You still remember your way around here?" she asked.

"What do I look like? Of course I remember!" To me she whispered, "The first incubus or succubus we see, I'm asking directions from." I giggled and she grinned.

As it turned out, we didn't get lost. It only took about five minutes to reach where the succubi lived. The grounds it covered were extensive, and what Yami referred to as 'a nice little place' turned out to be more like a sprawling mansion than anything else.

"Do you live here?" I asked her, eyes wide.

"No," she said, preoccupied with the door. "I only visit sometimes, when I have the time." She finally got it open. "Welcome!" She showed us around.

"So what do you succubus do?" Kage asked her. She smirked at him.

"The succubus find human men, bring them somewhere around here, and steal their energy. The incubus does the same thing, except they find human women. These particular incubus and succubus do not kill their victims, so rest assured you won't die here."

"How do they steal their energy?" he probed. Her smirk widened, and she took on a mischievous air.

"How do you think?" she asked. Kage shrugged.

"You're the half succubus. You tell me," he replied.

"It's actually a very simple process," Yami explained. "If you weren't so dense, maybe you'd have figured it out already."

"Stop beating around the bush and tell me! Unless, you don't know that is." Yami's smirk was getting wider by the minute, and I didn't like that look she had in her eye. It reminded me of Miroku whenever he was going to do something perverted or say something inappropriate.

"Sex," she said simply. Miroku nearly crashed into one of the walls, and Kage stopped walking abruptly.

"What!" he yelped. Yami broke out into laughter.

"You wanted to know!" she said. "Why do you think Mari-chan was barely wearing anything? She was trying to seduce you!" Kage's eyes began spinning. "Oh great, he's going into shock. Kagome, help me!" she said, snickering.

"That's how you live?" I asked.

"Well, I'm not really a succubus, so I get off of my…duties…but that is how a normal succubus or incubus lives," she said. "Pull yourself together, Kage! Breathe!" She pretended to slap him.

"Maybe it was a bad idea staying here for the night," Sango said, glaring at Miroku. "You can't trust him."

"It's okay," Yami said. "We'll keep him locked up in the room. That, or we can knock him out and leave him like that until morning." I laughed. "You don't mind sharing rooms, right?"

"No," I said. Kage stood up.

"We have to?" he asked.

"Unless you want to sleep in some random succubus's room, yes," Yami said. Kage shuddered. "Oh. Would you rather an incubus's room?" Kage turned on her, with murder in his eyes. Yami laughed again. "You don't want to share a room with the others?"

"No," he said. "It'd be better if we did share one room. That way I could keep an eye on this one." He jerked his thumb at me. "Don't want her running off in the middle of the night."

"I hate you!" I snarled, knowing he probably meant it as a joke and nothing more, but the wounds were still fresh, and before anybody could stop me, I had run off. I only stopped when the rational part of my brain kicked in and told me that it probably wasn't smart to be running around someplace that I didn't know. It didn't matter because it was too late; I was already lost. With a sigh, I sat down on a nearby piano bench, and waited for somebody to retrieve me. Yami was the one who found me.

"What was that all about?" she asked, referring to the earlier scene. I gave her the abbreviated version of my argument with Mother and my fight with Kage. She patted my back sympathetically. "It'll be alright. He's not mad, at least not at you. I think he's mad at himself for saying that. Why don't you come back and talk to him?"

"He won't talk to me!" I snapped. "I tried to tell him what happened, but he won't listen to a word I say! He doesn't care about me!" Yami sighed, and then nudged me off the piano bench. She stared at the keys for a minute and then began playing a piece I had never heard before. The melody intertwined between both hands, and sounded sad and sweet at the same time.

_Darkness is my incubus,_

_Darkness is my friend._

_Dark was where my life began,_

_And dark is where it ends._

I hadn't expected her to start singing, and the sad melody startled me.

_When I die,_

_I know that you won't care._

_You will mourn; the day will break,_

_And then you will forget._

The lyrics reminded me of how I felt when Kikyo was around. Sometimes I felt that my existence meant nothing if she wasn't there, and that if I disappeared, no one would notice.

_Flowers fade and so do I,_

_Summer comes to end._

_Autumn leaves fly to the sky,_

_The cycle never ends._

She was saying that life would go one, even if she died. I had never thought about it like that. If I died, I had thought that everything would stop. I now realized how selfish I was being.

_Darkness is my incubus,_

_Darkness is my friend._

_Dark was where my life began,_

_And dark is where it ends._

_I know you,_

_And I know what you will do._

_You'll say I died because I_

_Was not as strong as you._

I felt like crying. Yami's voice sounded so sad, and I could relate to all of her lyrics. Kage would say something like that.

_Flowers fade and so do I,_

_Summer comes to end._

_Autumn leaves fly to the sky,_

_The cycle never ends._

I could feel tears starting. Self-hatred was beginning to replace self-pity.

_Darkness is my incubus,_

_Darkness is my friend._

_Dark was where my life began,_

_And dark is where it ends._

Tears were flowing quietly down my face as she played the bridge in all of its bitter sweetness. There were no lyrics, only the tune changing keys, but it didn't need words. I understood all of it.

_Flowers fade and so do I,_

_Summer comes to end._

_Autumn leaves fly to the sky,_

_The cycle never ends._

I couldn't hold back my sobs anymore, and I collapsed into Yami's arms, sobs tearing through my chest.

"I'm sorry," I whispered over and over again. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said I hated him!"

"It's okay," Yami comforted me. "He'll forgive you. He already feels bad and regrets being a jerk. It's like the song. _"The cycle never ends."_

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And we are done!

BTW – You see those lyrics? You see them? They're mine! I made them up! So don't report me saying I used somebody else's lyrics! And feel free to use them in your story if you want to. Just e-mail me saying you're going to use them and put up a disclaimer stating that it belongs to Yami 396, so help you God if you forget and I find out!

Another BTW – I actually did research for this chapter, which is amazing since I never research anything. I had to hunt through several encyclopedias and the Internet to find out information on succubi. I just finished reading the first book in the new series Mark of the Succubus and it kind of gave me an idea of how they act. In a nutshell, a succubus is a female demon who, in medieval legends comes to men in their sleep and has intercourse with them to survive, to collect seed, or to steal their energy, sometimes leaving them dead. The legends change from source to source, so I don't know which one is the closest to the truth. The incubus do the same thing, but to women. Japan doesn't really have a succubus legend; they were more in Europe, which is why in this fanfiction most of them were driven out. And yes, the Yami in the story is yours truly. I couldn't help but sneak a little self-insertion in…R&R!


	11. The Present Continues

Chapter 10: The Present Continues

Yami 396

Inspiration is a fickle thing. This fic wants to be written, so here you are! 

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha. I own Mitsu, Horeshio, Anasuteijia, and Samisu. Do not set lawyers one me; they will never come back.

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"I'm setting up an appointment for you to see Dr. Iwata," Mitsu said to me, when he came back home, sometime around ten. I sat stony-faced away from him, pretending to be absorbed in studying the wall across from me. "I think you need to be put back on medication." I laughed.

"The only medication I ever took was anti-depressants. I'm not crazy," I said. How did my life get like this? Everything had been going fine up until a week ago. Now it was like my life was like some kind of bad movie, where everything went wrong.

"Mom, Ana-chan is crying again," Samisu timidly said, looking at me from behind the door. It broke my heart to see him hiding from us, like his only chance of escape was to keep himself barricaded behind wood.

"She'll stop soon," Mitsu snapped. "Go back to bed. It's late."

"But-"

"No buts! Bed! Now!" Mitsu got up and slammed the door. I cringed at Samisu's squeak of alarm and heard him run back upstairs.

"What's the matter with you!" I asked. "You're the one who needs medication!"

"After putting up with you for four years, I think anybody would!" he snarled, before clamping a hand over his mouth. I stared at him, open-mouthed in shock.

"Ana and Sami are both crying now and they won't listen to me," Horeshio said from the doorway, breaking the horrified silence between Mitsu and me. He wasn't using the door as a barricade. He stood in front of it, crossing his arms over his chest, waiting for one of us to make the first move. "And Ana's face is bruised."

"One minute. I'll be right there," I said, getting up.

"Wait," Mitsu said, catching my arm.

"It's okay. Just forget about it," I said, pushing his hand away. "It's all in the past, right? And what happens in the past stays in the past," I said, hoping that my voice didn't have a sarcastic ring to it. Mitsu stayed in the room while I followed Horeshio to Ana and Sami's room. I comforted Ana-chan first; she was the one who was crying the loudest.

"Mommy!" she sobbed, throwing herself into my arms.

"It's okay, it's okay," I whispered, gently rocking her back and forth. "Everything will be all right." I gently pushed her hair away from her face. Sure enough, there was a bruise across her cheek, dark and painful looking. And the funeral was in a week. I couldn't bring her in looking like that. People would think that she was being abused.

"Is she going to be okay?" Sami-chan asked, venturing into the room.

"She's fine. I think it's just shock," I said, reaching out to pull him into a hug as well. For several minutes we stood there, holding onto each other as if never to let go. Ana-chan went limp in my arms, and I realized she had fallen asleep. I gently set her back down in bed and carried Sami-chan to his, in which he fell asleep very quickly. I turned to see Horeshio looking at me.

"Are you okay?" he asked. I smiled and nodded.

" A little tired," I replied. "At dinner, what did Mitsu say that made you so upset?" That question had been nagging me for a while now, and I had to ask it. Horeshio's eyes darkened until they were almost black.

"Nothing," he lied.

"Don't lie to me, Horeshio." He was quiet for minute.

"He said Aunt Kikyo always was the prettier one," he said finally, eyes downcast. I stared over his head and off into space. "You're not mad at me, right?" he asked suddenly.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "It's got nothing to do with you. Go to bed now or you'll be tired in the morning." I walked back downstairs. I couldn't describe my feelings at the moment. It wasn't one feeling. It was more like twenty of them, all jumbled together into one big mess. I tried to sort through them. There was anger, of course, and jealousy, and resentment. What surprised me most was that I also felt sadness. Sadness in the fact that even my own husband compared me to Kikyo. Suppressed childhood emotions welled up inside of me, and for minute I couldn't breathe. Memories rushed past my face.

_I was two and Kikyo was five. We were fighting over the prize that came in the cereal box at breakfast._

_My first archery lesson. I couldn't hit the target. Kikyo shot a bull's eye every time._

_Father had just died. I was crying under the Go-Shinboku. Kikyo was yelling at me to stop and get a grip, to move on._

_In the hospital, after I had just woken up. Kikyo was glaring at me while the doctor said I was pregnant._

_At my wedding. She was telling me how lucky I was to find someone willing to accept Horeshio._

I put a hand to my head. I felt the beginning of a migraine coming on. I took a quick detour back up the stairs to the bathroom, hunting about the medicine cabinet for an Advil. I took a look at myself in the mirror. My hair was disheveled, my face was pale, and I had dark circles under my eyes. Anybody would look prettier than me at the moment. I groaned and shuffled back into the hallway. Another memory hit me, this one fuzzy and unclear, as if I were looking at it through a cloudy window.

_"Kikyo," I moaned, holding my head in my hands. "What have I done!" Sobs racked my body._

_"I think you know what you did," she replied coldly, which only made me sob harder. "Did you enjoy yourself?"_

_"I didn't mean to," I whispered._

_"You can't protect the Shikon No Tama anymore," she said bluntly. "The jewel needs to be free of taint. Your body's tainted. You'll still have your powers, don't fret over that."_

_"I didn't know," I said meekly._

_"You didn't know what?" she asked maliciously. "That you couldn't protect the jewel anymore. Or that he killed our father?" I cried harder still. "That was very smart Kagome," she continued, oblivious to my growing frenzy. "How does it feel to know that you slept with our father's murderer?" The last bit of sanity that I held on to broke, and I bolted from the room and out into the night._

I hadn't realized I had reached the stairs until I missed the first step and fell, meeting the floor with bloody force. The sounding crash caused Mitsu to rush out of the bedroom to help me. I sat up, tasting blood.

"What happened!" he asked. I only shook my head, sucking on my lip to stop the bleeding.

"I'm fine," I managed to say. My lip was stinging. "It's only a small cut. It'll be fine by tomorrow.

"I'll get ice," he said, going into the kitchen to find an ice pack. His worry and concern caused me to forget that I was mad at him, and all thoughts of Kikyo except for the one that caused me to fall down the stairs were driven from mind.

Kikyo knew who Horeshio's father was. She said I slept with our father's murderer. I froze. Our father's murder was Kai…Kaikatsu…I struggled to remember the name…all I could remember was that he was a demon. My heart stopped for a second. My father's murderer was demon and I had slept with him when I was sixteen or seventeen. Horeshio was…half-demon? I felt as if someone had taken all the blood out of my veins and replaced it with ice water.

"You're bleeding again!" Mitsu's voice came to me from a distance, even though he was right in front of me. "It's staining you shirt!" I stared at him in horror. "What's the matter!" Panic found its way into his voice.

"I need to see Dr. Iwata," I said, struggling to get up. Mitsu caught my arms.

"In the morning. It's too late now," he said, trying to calm me down.

"No! I need to see him! Now!" I struggled with him, kicking and flailing my feet and arms. "You don't understand!" I kept struggling until the last of my strength gave out, and I sagged limply in his arms. "Please," I whispered.

"Kagome-chan, Kagome-chan," Mitsu whispered. "It's okay. I'm here. You don't have to worry when I'm around. I'll always protect you." I wished I could have believed him.

Sleep didn't come that night, even though Mitsu kept his arms around me, as if in a gesture to keep me safe. I felt as if I was being trapped, suffocated. I got a little bit of rest only when he left for work the next morning. It was too early to wake the children up, and I hoped that if it went to see Dr. Iwata now, I could make it back before they woke up. I knew it was irresponsible, but I couldn't help it. I quietly slipped out the door and into my car, and started to drive.

Along the way, I found myself contemplating about Horeshio's father. I had been entertaining the thought that his father might have been that man Sesshoumaru, but then again, when we had met recently, he hadn't treated me as one would treat a lover. Heat rushed to my face.

"I'm blushing!" I exclaimed. "What's wrong with me!" I slapped my face lightly, earning incredulous stares from passersby. "What are you looking at!" I yelled to them, which made them speed away from me when the light turned green. I drove on, grumbling to myself until I reached Dr. Iwata's office building. Once there, I snuck past the secretary behind a large family group and made my way down the hall. I opened the door to his office, and he looked at up, surprised.

"Kagome-san, I didn't know you had an appointment today," he said, looking at his log.

"I don't," I replied. His smile faltered. "I'm here for some answers." He was about to say something but I cut him off sharply. "I know Horeshio has demon blood."

"How did you-?" he stopped. His mouth opened and closed several times before he regained speech control. "Kagome-san. I don't know how that got into your head, but I can assure you that it is entirely untrue."

"I remembered it. Kikyo said I had slept with out father's murderer. I know that he was murdered by a demon. Tell me who he is!"

"Kagome-san, please."

"Tell me." He backed away from my glare. He looked around the office nervously.

"I can't tell you anything," he said finally. "It would be bad for both of us."

"Why?" I asked. I was close to getting the answers I needed. I wasn't backing down now.

"They'll know I told you," he mumbled, fidgeting nervously. "They'll know I told and then they'll do away with me."

"What?" I asked, shocked. He only gave me a wide-eyed glance. "Who?"

"Them."

"Who are they?"

"I can't say."

"Is there anything you can say?" I yelled in frustration. "Please Dr. Iwata! I need to know this! You don't know what it's like, having random memories come out of nowhere that you can't remember!" He looked around the room again, and then swallowed visibly.

"You're right. Horeshio does have demon blood," he said, eyes flicking to the window every few seconds. My heart started racing. "He has dog demon blood."

"Who is his father?" I asked quietly. My senses were screaming that something wasn't right, that something bad was going to happen any second, but I ignored them. This was what I had been waiting for.

"His father is-" There was an explosion as the window behind me shattered, and I instinctively closed my eyes and ducked. When I opened them, Dr. Iwata was lying on his back, blood spattered over the wall opposite me.

I don't remember opening my mouth to scream, I only remembering hearing it. I kept on screaming, even when the secretary came running, took in the scene before her, Dr. Iwata lying on the ground, dead, blood all over the walls, and me sitting on the floor screaming in hysteria, and didn't stop until the medics came and gave me medication that made me fall into a dreamless sleep. When I woke up, I saw Mitsu sitting in a chair across from me. When he saw me looking at him, he made a move to get up, but an officer restrained him.

"Mitani-san," another said to me. "I am Tomoya-san. I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"Leave her alone!" came the outraged yell from Mitsu. I groaned.

"What do you want?" I asked, not caring if I sounded rude.

"Don't answer anything!" Mitsu commanded.

"Please escort him out," Tomoya-san said to the officer. He nodded, and pulled Mitsu up, dragging him out of the room amid his protests.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"We're investigating a murder," Tomoya-san said gravely. "Why did you go see Dr. Iwata this morning? You had no known appointment."

"I wanted to ask…some…questions," I mumbled, suppressing yawns.

"Was there anyone else in the room?"

"No."

"Did you have an argument?"

"Kind of," I said, my brain not working properly.

"Kind of?" he asked.

"He didn't want to answer my questions," I said.

"What were your questions?" The effects of the medication wore away.

"Why are you asking me all these questions," I asked, brows knitting together. "Why are you treating me as a suspect?"

"Frankly Mitani-san, you are one. You were the only one in the room; the secretary heard raised voices, then silence, and then a gunshot. You have a motive." I could only stare at him in horror.

………………………………………………………………………………...

Well, there went Dr. Iwata. And on top of all that Kagome's going through, she has to go through a murder investigation now. She wants to kill me. I can see her readying her bow as I type. Bye!

P.S. R&R!


	12. The Past Episode

Chapter 11: The Past

Yami 396

I'm freezing cold as I type this. You see how much I love you all? I'll type in 36-degree weather with no heat. I tried typing with gloves on, but that just did not work out. Shout out to Hot Topic for arm-warmers and scarves!

Disclaimer: I no own nofink except for Yami, but she is I, so that really doesn't count. Wait, I also own all the succubus and incubus too!

………………………………………………………………………………...

My emotional outburst didn't last very long, and I looked up at Yami who smiled down at me.

"You look like a mess," she said. "Go get cleaned up. Washrooms are right down the hall."

"Come with me?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to go to a washroom alone in a strange place with incubi running around. She rolled her eyes.

"No, I will not go with you. You're old enough to go by yourself. Besides, the incubus have direct orders not to touch you, and I'm not you keeper." With that, she herded me down the hallway until we reached one of the washrooms, and then sped off before I could stop her. Cursing her speed under my breath, I opened the massive door a sliver and peeked inside, hoping there was no one in there.

There wasn't. I let out a breath of relief, and slipped in, the door closing behind me with a dull thud. Numerous sinks lined the walls and I openly gawked at the impressive display of marble and gold. Growing up in a shrine, I wasn't accustomed to much finery, and all of this was sending me into a mental overload. Cautiously, I tiptoed over to one of the sinks, though I didn't know why I had the feeling I should be quiet, and looked at the single tap adorning it. The gold was freshly polished and didn't have a speck of tarnish on it anywhere.

"They must have somebody clean these every day," I whispered, and then glanced around to make sure no one heard me in all of my stupidity. I forced myself to turn the tap, wincing as my fingers left marks on the unmarred surface. Crystalline water poured out, and I placed my hand under the stream, only to jerk them back out again in shock. The water was freezing! I checked the sinks nearest me. They were all cold! "What the hell?" I asked, momentarily reverting to school ground language. I didn't was to check all the sinks, and I knew that if I delayed any longer, Yami would probably come marching back and drag me to the room. Taking a deep breath, I cupped my hands and splashed the water on my face, wincing as the water stung my cheeks. After several rinses, I dried my face with a towel found under the sink and hurried back to the room, which I found after the help of Mari, whom I ran into on the way.

I stopped at the door, and wondered how I was going to apologize to Kage. Unfortunately, as soon as I reached for the handle, the door was thrown open and Kage flew out, obviously thrown by Yami with the command of, "Talk!" We both didn't look at each other, Kage opting to stare at something on the floor, and I stared at the wall. Finally, he looked up.

"Sorry," he sad gruffly, his eyes returning to the floor. I was speechless. Kage did not seem like the type to apologize.

"What?" I asked, blinking. His head shot up and he glared at me.

"I said I was sorry," he said again. "I didn't mean to break it." Now I was really confused.

"Break what?" I asked. He pulled out the object he was hiding behind my back. It was my alarm clock that had gone missing the day after we left again from the shrine. Or at least, I thought it was alarm clock, seeing as it looked so mangled it could have been anything.

"The stupid thing was annoying me, and I guess I hit it too hard because it broke," he said, offering it to me.

"You're sorry because you broke my alarm clock?" I asked, in total disbelief. Was he that thick?

"I got nothing else to be sorry about," he said. Before I could respond with a witty comeback, the door opened, and Yami, Miroku-sama, Sango-chan, Shippo-chan, and Kirara, Sango-chan's pet demon-cat, all came tumbling out, landing in a heap on the floor. "Were you listening the whole time!" I yelled, half in embarrassment, half in anger. Yami was the first to recover.

"Retreat! Retreat!" she yelled, getting up and running back into the room with everyone else hot on her heels. I sighed in defeat.

"You know what?" I said to Kage. "I'm sorry too." I shook my head at the question in his eyes. "I'm just sorry, okay?" He only 'feh'-ed and walked back in the room, me trailing behind him.

"Well that was painful," Yami commented, looking up from her channel surfing. "Never seen a big screen T.V. before?" I shut my mouth promptly, once again cursing my upbringings. She grinned at me, and went back to the T.V.

"Can you stop that?" Kage snapped. She looked at him.

"If I didn't have so many interruptions, I would have found a channel already," she replied curtly. "But since there is an absence of anything good to watch anyway, I will settle for MTV." Blaring rock music sounded from the speakers as if on cue, and we all lost Yami's interest as she watched the screen in rapt concentration. Sango-chan sighed, and moved away from the noise.

"Can she put it any louder?" Sango-chan asked me.

"If she hears you, then probably yes," I said, keeping my voice low. The music lowered.

"All you had to was ask," Yami said sweetly, her grin showing all of her teeth.

"Yami…err…Yami-sama?" I asked, unsure of how to address her.

"No honorifics. Just call me Yami or Yami-chan if you want to," she replied.

"Okay, Yami, why is the water cold here?" I asked. Kikyo had always accused me of being too nosy for my own good, but it was trait that I had no control over.

"Hot water dries out the skin and hair," Yami explained. "Incubi and succubi especially are slaves to fashion. Anything that might ruin their looks is avoided at all costs."

"So there's no hot water?"

"None."

"What about for showers or baths?" I asked.

"You'll have to take it cold," Yami said with a shrug. "Oh come on!" she exclaimed in response to my horrified look. "It's not like it's going to kill you! So the water's cold. Big deal! You jump in, you jump out. End of story!"

"Easy for you to say!" I countered. "You're used to it!"

"No I'm not! I just do it because it makes my hair look nice. I hate it, especially in the winter!"

"Then don't do it!"

"But my hair!" she whined. "I might be only half succubus, but I still care about my appearance to the nth degree!" I was about to retort when a violent shiver seized my body. I wrapped my arms around myself in an attempt to keep warm. "Looks like some poor victim has stumbled in here," Yami said, moving to a window to view the massive fog swirling around. "The fog will stay until whoever it is leaves. It ensures that the person can never find their way back here." I was about to ask why, but Mari ran into the room and interrupted me.

"It's a bunch of bandits," she said, making a face. "Hide me in here. I don't want to have to deal with them."

"Tsk, tsk Mari-chan. Shirking your duties because you don't like the people," Yami teased her. I sat up. I could sense a jewel shard approaching.

"Did any of them have a jewel shard?" I asked. Everyone looked at me.

"You're looking for them?" Yami asked. When I nodded, she said, "Don't tell me you were the one who broke it!" I nodded shamefully. To my surprise she just laughed. "Cool. Eww…they're passing this way. I can smell them. Tell me which one has the jewel shard," she said, opening the door a little bit. I watched as at least fifteen bandits walked by, each one smellier and uglier than the rest. I could sense the shard the strongest when the last one passed by, trailing flies behind him, and he looked as is he was stupidest one out of all of them.

"That one," I whispered, reveling for a moment in the look of repulsion on Yami's face. "What are you going to do?"

"Watch and learn," she said, sticking her head out of the door. "Pst, hey! Hey, you!" she whispered as the bandit passed by. He stopped and pointed at himself stupidly. "Yes you! Ya wanna come in?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. He looked down the hallway at his disappearing comrades, during which Yami pretended to strangle herself with her hair. Then he looked back, and looking very pleased with himself, nodded. Yami gave him a fake smile, and beckoned him in.

"What the hell is she trying to pull," Kage asked me. I shrugged.

"Let me look at you, sweetheart, " Yami crooned in sickly sweet tones, circling him. When she was behind him, she lashed out at him so quickly that I barely saw it. He crumpled to the floor without a sound. "Sucker," she said, wiping her hands on her jeans. "So, where is the jewel shard?" she asked me.

"You mean I have to find it?" I asked, not liking the idea of having to search a smelly bandit.

"Yes, you do. You're the only one that can sense it, unless Miroku wants to do the honors." Luckily, the shard was in a pouch hanging around his neck, and I had no problem purifying it and placing it in a small jar. "So," Yami said after I was done. "You're in the east because there are jewel shards here?"

"Yeah, I was told to come here by my family," I explained to her what happened. She frowned.

"I'm not that good at geology and stuff, but I wouldn't have expected the jewel shards to fly out this far," she said thoughtfully, running her hand through her hair. "Maybe one or two, but not much more." I shrugged.

"Those bandits weren't even from around here," Mari spoke up. "They were from the west, traveling." I bit my lip in frustration. We would have to double back if what Mari and Yami were saying was true. I was seized with a sudden idea.

"Yami, do you travel into the western lands often?" I asked her. My suspicions were confirmed when she shook her head.

"Not if I wanted to cause a hell of a lot of trouble," she said. "It's pretty much an unwritten rule between Demon Lords. We don't trespass into each other's lands unless we have a good reason for it. It avoids unnecessary conflicts and with all that's going on right now with the Demonic Revolutions and such, we don't need to stir up anything else. Why?" I didn't say, and I was glad that Yami didn't push it, since the reason would have sent Kage off in another tirade. She had said it herself. Demon Lords didn't cross over the boundaries of their land. Even if the Demon Lord of the East was a she instead of a he, Sesshoumaru-sama wouldn't cross the borderline. Not that I expected him to, or even remotely wanted him to…I could feel my face burning. I was blushing! Why was I blushing! Not good! Not good!

"You look sick all of a sudden," Mari said to me, looking up at my face. "Are you okay?" She seemed genuinely concerned. I thought I was saved until Yami decided to put her two cents in.

"She's not sick stupid. She's blushing," she said, not even bothering to look up. "Leave her alone."

"Why are you blushing," Kage asked, confused. I bit my lip, trying to formulate some kind of lie. Surprisingly, Yami saved me this time, instead of making it worse.

"Because there's some incredibly hot guy in the T.V. right now who has a great voice," she answered for me, turning up the volume. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, as Mari did, and went and sat next to Yami.

"You have a big mouth," I told her in hushed tones.

"My big mouth just saved you," she replied. "Now why did you want to know about all that?" I could see that I wasn't going to get out of the mess I had unknowingly created, so I told her.

"My mother and sister think I'm having some kind of relationship with Sesshoumaru-sama," I whispered. I had expected a reaction, but not the one she gave me.

"What!" she shrieked, her voice cracking several octaves. Almost immediately, she brought in back under control and asked again, "What?" I told her about my meetings with him and what had transpired. Her mouth fell open.

After that exchange, Yami was strangely silent the rest of the night, except to mumble a few 'goodnights' to us before rolling herself up in a sleeping bag. In the morning, though, she was back to being amicable, and even agreed to walk me to the washrooms again and stand guard by the door while I took a decent shower for once.

"Is this really necessary?" she asked me from outside the door. "No one's even awake yet. We're more of night people than early morning people."

"Y-Yes," I said, shivering. The fog still hadn't dispersed and it felt like it was below zero. "If I catch pneumonia, I'm blaming you."

"You won't. You catch cold from going from places that are really warm to places that are really cold. You're going from cold to cold," she stated. I hadn't known Yami very long, but her sarcastic logic was already killing me.

"Is anybody coming?"

"No, and no one will come! It's too early! Can I leave now?"

"Wait for me!" I heard her sigh. "Sorry," I said.

"No, it's okay," came the reply. "You remind me of my sisters."

"You have sisters?" I asked. She had never mentioned that before.

"I had two," she said, accenting the 'had.' I blinked.

"Had?" I questioned.

"They died when the Demonic Revolutions started."

"Did…did we do it?" I tried to choose my words carefully. Yami laughed darkly.

"Hikari was killed by a priestess. She looked about seven at the time. Hakumeiki was killed by demons when she looked about fourteen," she answered.

"My father was killed by Kaikatsu Gin Kiraitsu." I didn't know why I said that, but it was too late to take it back.

"Hmm," she replied. "Mine was killed by Naraku." I momentarily forgot the barrage of icy cold water, and looked up.

"Naraku?" I asked in morbid fascination. I could practically see her nodding.

"Yeah, he didn't really kill him, it was more like he absorbed him," she said, disgust evident.

"He can absorb demons?" I asked, queasy. He had attacked the shrine on several occasions, always after the Shikon No Tama. None of us had ever gotten a good look at his face; the baboon pelt he always wore concealed him entirely.

Naraku was the sole demon responsible for the Demonic Wars. After the demon genocides, Naraku had taken a rise in powers, and he was the cause of many human deaths. I knew he was extremely powerful, and even more so when it came to manipulation, but I hadn't known the true extent of his powers. Yami was talking again.

"If I ever had to use the phrase 'worthless half-breed,' he's what I'd use it on," she said. I started.

"He's a half-demon?" I asked in disbelief.

"You didn't know?" she replied. "Wow, I thought a miko of all people would know that. It's why he wants the Shikon No Tama. The only way for him to become a full demon is the jewel. You don't know the story of Onigumo?"

"No," I said, drying myself with a towel, and pulling clothes back on. "Tell me about it." I sat down next to her.

"Well, Onigumo was supposedly a fugitive. They say that when the wars started, he got caught in the midst of battle and never fully recovered. He was covered in all sorts of burns, and was paralyzed. Some foolish woman took pity on him, and soon enough he began to lust after her. He called demons and promised them his soul in exchange for a body," she recited with practiced ease. "In any case, that didn't work out, and thus Naraku was born."

"And he wants the Shikon No Tama…" I started.

"…Because he has a human heart he needs to get rid of," Yami finished. "They also say that there is one demon Naraku fears the most."

"Really, who?"

"Not really fear, but this demon's powerful enough to kill him, so he wants to absorb him and take his power."

"Stop being melodramatic and tell me!"

"Got close one time too."

"Yami!" She grinned.

"Kaikatsu Gin Kiraitsu," she said, the grin turning evil. "The only one that Naraku fears. It'd be fun to see those two in a death match. My money's on KGK," she said, abbreviating the name. I shuddered.

"It would not be funny," I said. "It'd be nice to see them kill each other." Old wounds of the heart never heal.

"Sorry," she said guiltily. "Kaikatsu Gin Kiraitsu also wants the jewel too." I looked up. She nodded and continued. "Be on your guard. He may be closer to you than you think." With that cryptic warning, she left, and I was still trying to process all this new information.

We left that day, at around noon. Yami, Mari, and a few other succubus and incubus saw us off. I tried to get Yami to come with us, but she refused.

"You're going to have plenty of drama in the future," she said. "You don't need any more from me." I let it go, but her comment bothered me. I had the feeling she knew something that she wasn't telling. It always irked me when someone did that, especially if it was to me. However, we had to backtrack all the way back to the west, and we needed to get going as soon as possible.

"I wish we could have stayed longer," Miroku-sama said wistfully, staring off into space. Sango-chan growled and glared at him. I was beginning to think that she had a crush on him. I would have to watch more closely. Quickly, before Miroku-sama got himself knocked out, I shared the information that Yami gave with me about Naraku to them. When I was done, Miroku-sama nodded his approval. "I've heard the same rumors."

"So have I," Sango-chan agreed.

"We'll go back to the shrine and tell Mom, Great-Aunt Kaede, and Kikyo about this," I said. I also wanted to go home so I could settle this little dispute with Kikyo. She'd probably told Great-Aunt Kaede to tell me that there were jewel shards in the east. No one questioned where or how Kikyo got her facts.

I had not expected to be met with battle when we arrived there.

I had already noticed something was wrong when I saw the column of smoke rising in the air when we came within seeing distance of the shrine. In a moment of panic, I ran ahead of everybody, fully expecting the worst. I burst into the back courtyard, yelling for somebody to answer me.

"Kagome! Get down!" I heard Kikyo yell, but it was too late. Whatever it was that was attacking saw and heard me before I could react. Tentacles reached out to grab me, and I froze, waiting for the end.

It never came. Kage had unsheathed Tetsusaiga at sometime, and had caught up with me in time to pull me down and I heard the faint hiss of one of Kikyo's Sacred Arrows. When I looked up, I saw that it was Naraku who had attacked again, but this time, Kikyo's arrow had caught the baboon pelt he always wore, and it fell off of him, revealing his face to all.

"Kagewaki-sama!" I gasped. I couldn't believe it! My family knew Kagewaki-sama. He was one of the few humans that were actually trying to stop the war instead of making it worse. And he was…Naraku! He, it, smirked.

"Kagewaki was a good man," he said. "He still is to those who still believe he is alive."

"You killed him?" Kikyo shouted, notching another arrow. I heard Sango-chan and Miroku-sama run up behind me. They stopped cold. Each bore a similar confused expression to one that I wore.

"That is Naraku?" Miroku-sama asked, hands at his prayer beads that sealed away his Wind Tunnel. I saw Naraku's eyes slide over to them.

"My dear Sango," he addressed her. She started, and then grabbed her Hiraikotsu, readying for battle. His smirk broadened. "I thought I had my demons kill the all the Demon Slayers." Sango-chan faltered.

"You! You attacked my village!" she yelled. She began to run, but Miroku-sama held her back.

"He's trying to bait you, Sango! Don't let him!" he said, holding on to her shoulder.

"You're still alive Monk?" Naraku asked him. "I would have thought that Wind Tunnel would have killed you already." Miroku-sama glowered at him, his knuckles turning white as his grip on the prayer beads tightened.

"Enough!" Kikyo yelled, as she let loose another arrow. Blue light encased it, but Naraku sacrificed a large amount of tentacles to stop it. I glanced up at her and saw her worried expression. That had been her last arrow. A purple haze began to form around us. Miasma.

"Go to hell, bastard!" InuYasha yelled, swinging Tetsusaiga. "Wind Scar!" It did nothing, except to blow up more tentacles and more miasma was released into the air. I started coughing from the toxic gases. InuYasha growled. There was no way out of this. Miroku-sama stepped forward.

"All of you stay behind me!" he yelled. "Wind Tunnel!" I regained some hope at this. We couldn't cut through the tentacles, but we could still suck them up. Unfortunately, Naraku had also thought of this. A large number of Saimyosho, Naraku's pet demons of sorts, appeared and flew into Miroku-sama's Wind Tunnel. He collapsed to the ground. "Poison," he spoke through gritted teeth. Sango-chan knelt by him, completely forgetting the battle. I could feel my energy slipping away. If I could get my bow and arrows, I would have a chance at shooting Naraku to distract him, hopefully causing the miasma to dissipate. I couldn't move my hands though. I couldn't breathe in the miasma, and I was using both hands to cover my mouth and nose. Something warm dropped over me. InuYasha had slipped of his shirt.

"What about you?" I mumbled. He shook his head.

"I'll be fine. You get out of here," he commanded, glaring at Naraku. I seriously considered running, but a worried glance up at where Kikyo was, coughing and gasping for breath, made me stop. Hoping that Naraku didn't see me, I grabbed my bow and arrows with one hand, the other holding InuYasha's shirt against my face as protection, and quietly notched an arrow. Then I stood up.

"Naraku!" I yelled. He looked over at me. "This is it!" I let the arrow fly. I must have transferred my anger into the arrow because it was stronger than any arrow I had ever shot before, purifying the miasma even as it headed towards Naraku. It hit him in the chest, and continued to go though him until it emerged and struck the ground a few feet away. I took pleasure in seeing the shock and fear on his face. Faster than I thought possible, I notched another arrow, but this time Naraku was ready. He disappeared in a burst of miasma and was gone by the time we had all stopped coughing. InuYasha looked at me in a mixture of confusion and something else I couldn't quite place. We stared at each other for a little bit, until I noticed that he was shirtless. That caused a bit of embarrassment on my part, and amusement for Miroku-sama, who was not dead and still had energy to make jokes thankfully, and began quietly snickering at my predicament.

"That was good, Kagome" Kikyo said, coming down to help us drag Miroku-sama into the house. I blinked. Did Kikyo just compliment me? "If you could shoot like that all the time, Mother wouldn't have to worry about you so often." Okay, scratch that.

"Will he be okay?" I asked her, nodding towards Miroku-sama. She nodded.

"I'll treat him right away," she said, bestowing a very rare smile on me before turning away. Sometimes, Kikyo could be the nicest person anyone could hope to meet. Then at other times, she could be the coldest. My contemplation of my sister was stopped when I sensed an all-too-familiar demonic aura, and I hoped, with all that was going on right now, I would not be missed as I slipped out the door.

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Okay, that took way too long to write! Heh, heh, I forgot about Sota. He'll show up in the next chapter. Thanks Lady Bern for pointing that out! R&R!


	13. The Present Episode

Chapter 12: The Present

Yami 396

Wow, this is the third chapter I've shown up in. Don't worry, I promise this is the last you'll have to put up with me in the story, unless I decide to make a guest appearance or something…which I won't…Anyway, I think this will be the last update on this story for a little while. My other fanfic needs to be updated badly…

Dedicated to YuniX-2 who is going to read only present day chapters. Disclaimer: I no own. You no sue. I'm not making any money off of this.

**Lime Warning** Not intended for readers below the age of…aw hell, who am I kidding? You guys will read it anyway, no matter what I say!

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I was in a dangerous mood on the way back from the precinct. I glared at the windshield, willing myself not to lose control and shatter it, while Mitsu sent me looks of pity, pleading, and fear all wrapped together.

"Kagome…" he started.

"What?" I snapped, knowing that I was being intolerable, yet unable to bring myself to stop it. It wasn't every day I got to be the main suspect in a murder case.

_"Mitani-san," Toyama-san addressed me, from across the table. The glaring white light above me did nothing for the migraine I had, and with an effort, I took my head out of my hands and looked at him. "You do realize this is very serious, don't you?"_

_"I'm not an idiot," I snapped. My head was pounding. I just wanted to go home._

_"I wasn't saying that you were," he said. "Would you like a glass of water?" I glared at him in response._

_"Trying to get my fingerprints?"_

_"Only to rule you out as a suspect."_

_"I'm telling you, I did NOT kill Dr. Iwata!" I yelled, slamming my hands down on the table. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw several guards tense up outside._

_"Look at it from our point of view," Toyama-san said. "A hysterical secretary calls up saying that on of her doctors has been killed and there is a high-strung patient in the room, that may or my may not have been involved. She heard raised voices and then silence, and then finally a gunshot. It's all very compromising."_

_"Can you prove that I shot him?" I asked. "You don't have the gun."_

_"We're looking for it right now," he replied evenly._

_"You still can't prove anything. How would I shoot Dr. Iwata, get rid of the gun, and then act like I was traumatized?" I asked mockingly. Toyama-san didn't appear fazed in the least._

_"You'd be surprised how many murders are good actors," he said, smiling slightly at me. I understood the insinuation perfectly, and it took a lot of effort not to bear my teeth at this man. He was about to say something else, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. With a last meaningful look at me, he straightened and beckoned for the person to come in._

_"Toyama-san, they've found the gun," the man said. He was still fairly young, not much older than me, and he seemed slightly perturbed by something._

_"Any fingerprints?" Toyama-san asked. The man nodded, though a bit hesitantly. "Well?"_

_"They belonged to a demon, sir," the man said quietly. My head snapped up, as did Toyama-san's._

_"What!" he barked. "Are those the only fingerprints you could find?"_

_"Yes, sir. There were only one set pf prints on the gun, and it wasn't wiped down before or after hand." Toyama-san sighed._

_"Did you find out who the gun belonged to?"_

_"The demon, sir." Another sigh. "And something else!" Toyama-san looked up hopefully. "There was a large amount of yen on the demon as well."_

_"Meaning?" I interjected._

_"Meaning he was paid to shoot him," the man said excitedly._

_"Bring him in," Toyama-san ordered. The man shook his head._

_"I'm afraid I can't do that, sir."_

_"Why the hell not!"_

_"The demon is dead sir." This was becoming ridiculous._

_"How'd he die?" Toyama-san asked, rubbing his forehead._

_"Ummm." The poor man suddenly seemed squeamish. He ran his hand through his hair until Toyama-san became impatient and huffed at him for an answer. "Sorry, sir. It's just that…it wasn't a pretty sight to see. It definitely wasn't a natural death. It was like the demon melted." He bit his lip, and squirmed. "Bone and skin all hanging out of the place," he mumbled. I too was feeling a bit sick. The mental picture I had would have belonged somewhere in a horror movie. Toyama-san sighed again._

_"Are you certain he shot Dr. Iwata," I asked. Toyama-san glared at me._

_"He was found on a roof across from the building where the crime took place," the man explained. "He had a perfect angle, and the…samples…we took tested positive for gunpowder." I looked at Toyama-san._

_"Does that prove me innocent?" I asked. Toyama-san grunted._

_"We still have the issue of who paid him to shoot the doctor," he growled._

_"Fingerprints on the money came back negative, except for the demon's" the man interjected. Toyama-san turned his glare on him, and he quietly shrank out of the room. I fixed a pointed look on Toyama-san._

_"Well?" I asked. His growl told me all I needed to know. "I'm guessing I can leave."_

_"We might have to call you back," Toyama-san said, trying to be polite, but failing miserably. "When we track the money."_

_"I'll be waiting," I said acidly, walking briskly through the door. "By the way, are you going to look for the person who killed that demon?" Toyama-san shrugged._

_"Why would we? It was only a demon," he said simply. I stared at his retreating back indignantly until Mitsu, who had been waiting outside retrieved me._

"Kagome-chan," Mitsu tried again. "I know you're upset, but you're going to have put it behind you. Besides, we have the funeral to go to tomorrow." I clicked my teeth. I had forgotten about that damned funeral. No doubt word was going to get out about what had happened to Dr. Iwata, and I didn't feel like putting up with my family's opinions about it. Sota would probably be the only who would find it interesting. He always had a penchant for becoming transfixed with things that others would find less than amusing.

"I know," I said at last. "I'll try to control my temper." Mitsu smiled at me, and I smiled back, somewhat. I knew my teeth must have been showing, but Mitsu didn't notice, or he pretended not to.

Naturally, as soon as we arrived home, I was attacked by two worried children.

"We thought you were dead!" Ana-chan's wailed, clutching on to my arms.

"'I'm fine," I assured her, trying to detangle myself from her. "I just need to lie down for a little bit." Horeshio dragged the two of them upstairs with the promise that if they left him alone for the rest of the day, they would be allowed to mess around in his room. I was grateful for that, and ended up sleeping the rest of the day.

Of course, that caused me to stay up the greater part of the night. It was stupid, since I had to go to a funeral the next day, which would undoubtedly deplete the greater store of both my emotional and physical strength, but I could not force myself to fall asleep. Toyama-sans words kept replaying in my head.

_"Why would we? It was only a demon."_

Such a cruel and horrible thing to say. Granted, demons had done their share of killings, but still, that was years ago, buried in the past. It was unfair to treat them this way. Maybe, if we humans didn't, we might actually come to some kind of term of peace. I groaned inwardly. This much thinking was not helping me get to sleep. I sighed loudly, and turned heavily on my side, hoping that the new position would some how lead me to sleep. It only succeeded in waking Mitsu up, who seemed to have other thoughts on why I couldn't sleep.

"Can't sleep?" he asked seductively, breathing into my ear. I shivered. He continued. "You're too stressed. You need to relax a little bit," he whispered, arms wrapping around my waist. In spite of the little voice in my mind screaming at me to demand him to let me go, I found myself melting into his chest. This was how Mitsu used to be. Loving, caring, always looking out for me. Still though, that nagging voice in my head refused to be quieted, so I tried to stop Mitsu with a counter attack.

"Not tonight Mitsu," I mumbled, trying to pull away from him, despite another part of me screaming to stay in his arms. "We have to get up early in the morning to get ready for the funeral. We can't be la-" I was cut off by his sudden passionate kiss that left me gasping for breath. The screaming voice in my head was silenced as he trailed his hands up and down my body. My whole world consisted of only Mitsu, and I closed my eyes, savoring every moment of it.

_"I love you, Kagome."_

I thought it was Mitsu who had said that, my brain being in such a haze as it was, but then I realized that the pitch was different. I gasped as the memory swept through me.

_In his arms was the only place I truly felt safe, with all that was happening. His long silver mane draped across the upper parts of our bodies, like a curtain, cutting us off from out surroundings. I forgot the hard forest ground beneath me as I felt claws and fangs run across my body._

Eyes snapped open, and a wave of guilt consumed me as the memory left as quickly as it came. I yelped something between a 'no' and a 'get off,' and pushed Mitsu away, hoping to stop the guilt that was tearing at my heart, and sat up, hands clutching my heart. There was an exclamation somewhere in the dark, followed by a sharp bang. Fumbling for the light switch, I pulled on the chain, and the little lamp on the table near my bed illuminated a small portion of the room. I could see, that in my haste to rid myself of guilt, I had been too enthusiastic in my push, and had knocked Mitsu clear off the bed. He sat on the floor, rubbing his head where it had connected with the table.

"Mind explaining that one to me?" he asked, eyebrows up. I didn't know how to answer him. I didn't want to give him any more details on my returning memories, but I couldn't think up a lie that was convincing enough.

"I…er…um…" I stammered, looking everywhere in the room except at Mitsu's face.

"You what?" he asked.

"That is…um…"

"Kagome." I cringed. I had always been a terrible liar. I knew my face must have been flushed from embarrassment, and my broken sentences were only making me seem all the more suspicious.

"I…I'm very tired. Let's just forget this whole thing happened, okay?" I quickly turned off the light and flopped over, burying myself under the covers. After a few minutes, I heard the bed groan, and Mitsu fell back to sleep, muttering. Sleep still evaded me, and I stayed awake the whole night, staring at some point in the darkness.

"Are we there yet?" Ana-chan asked me later, when we were in the car, driving to where the funeral was to be held.

"Almost," I said, turning around in my seat to smile at her.

"You said that half an hour ago," Sami-chan mumbled, crossing his arms. I sighed. The funeral was being held near the shrine, which was across town. We had gotten a late start as it was, and traffic only made matters worse and tempers fly.

"Stop complaining," Horeshio said, voice a little too loud due to the headphones he was wearing. "Why do you want to go to a funeral so badly anyway?" Sami-chan and Ana-chan simultaneously stuck their tongues out at him.

"You'll have to leave those in the car when we get there," I warned him. He said nothing in reply, only fixing me with an unblinking stare that made me look away.

_"Great Kagome! You can't even win a staring contest with your own son! Wait until he becomes a teenager. You'll love it!"_ a mental voice taunted me. I groaned and leaned my head on the window. In truth, I had spent most of trip trying to sleep, hoping that even a little bit would help ease the fatigue I felt. I knew that I was going to be questioned by well-meaning relatives about Dr. Iwata's murder; we had just heard it on the radio not a few minutes ago. Mitsu turned it off when we heard it, seeing the way my face had looked. I sighed, a new habit I seemed to have picked up. Mitsu hadn't said much to me about last night, even though I knew he was waiting for an explanation. He hadn't been ignoring me directly; he was just a bit…cold…

"Are we there yet?" Ana-chan's voice came again.

"I'm going to eat you if you don't shut up," Horeshio snapped, turning up the volume of his CD player.

"Mom! Horeshio's being mean to me!"

"Shut up!"

"You shut up!"

"Settle down," I mumbled, not bothering to turn around. I told myself I would stop them if they started hitting each other.

"We're here," Mitsu said, effectively silencing the three. "I want you all to be on your best behavior. No yelling, no running, no pushing, shoving, screaming, etc." Horeshio shrugged, and stuffed his CD player underneath the seat. I helped Ana-chan and Sami-chan out of the car, straightening her dress and hair. Horeshio looked uncomfortable in his suit; he kept pulling at his tie. None of us really wanted to be here, but Great-Aunt Kaede was family, and she was the only one that ever showed me any compassion.

"Kagome-neechan!" I looked up to see my brother, Sota, waving to me from the top of the stairs. He ran down them at break-neck speed, and nearly fell on top of me as skidded to a halt. "Neechan, is it true? Were you really involved in a murder?" I should have known this was coming. Even know, at the age of eighteen, he was fascinated with all things weird and strange.

"Yeah, I was. Best time of my life," I said sarcastically.

"That's too cool!" he said, excitedly. "I wish I could have been there. I would have been much better than you!"

"Yeah, right. You would have screamed like a girl and passed out. I know you hate blood and guts, and there was a lot of that," I answered, enjoying the momentary green look that passed on his face at the mention of 'blood and guts.'

"Hi, Uncle Sota," Horeshio broke in. Sota grinned at him.

"So, it's the mystery kid," he said, using the nickname he had given Horeshio. I rolled my eyes. My brother could be so immature at times. "So you still don't know who his father is?" Sota whispered to me. I nodded. Sota was the only one who didn't seem to mind what had happened when I was sixteen. He was the most loyal to me out of all of my family. I told him a little about my recent memory flashes, leaving out the one last night, and the one that caused me to fall down the stairs. He nodded when I asked him not to say anything to Mom or Kikyo. "Sure thing, Neechan." He pantomimed locking his mouth and throwing away the key. I laughed and shook my head, walking up the steps into the funeral parlor.

It was dark, except for the dim lighting that cast a sort of reddish glow about the room. It took my eyes a few minutes to get used to the semi-darkness, and I quietly walked down the hallway, looking for the room that the funeral was to be held in. The whole place was still and silent, and none too creepy. I already had chills from just walking around in it. The only good thing was that relatives who wanted to know everything that was happening in my life were not attacking me…at the moment.

"Kagome? Kagome, is that you?" I turned around at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. The speaker was a tall woman, about the same age as me, with long black hair, looking at me through the darkness.

"Yes?" I called. "Do I know you?" I hoped this wasn't some relative I had never heard of.

"Oh, you don't remember me?" she asked, coming closer. Her dark eyes seemed familiar, as she looked questioningly at me. I shook my head. "Well, that's okay. I remember you! Wow, it's been so many years, you're what now?" she asked, smiling.

"Twenty-five," I said, very unsure of where this conversation was going.

"Me too! Are you married?" she asked eagerly.

"Yes, my husband is Mitani Mitsu. He's outside." For a moment I saw confusion written clearly on her face.

"Mitsu?" she asked. "Okay…I guess I never caught up with the times," she said, looking away.

"I hope I'm not being too rude when I ask you this, but why exactly are you here? Did you know my Great-Aunt Kaede?" I asked her.

"We were acquaintances," she said, pulling her hair back. "Our paths crossed a few times." I stared at her ears, which had been hidden by her hair. They weren't human ears. They were shaped like elves' ears. She caught me staring. "Whoops!" she said, dropping her hair. "Sorry about that. I forgot that demons have to keep a low profile," she said, contempt showing through her words.

"I don't mind," I said quickly. She was so familiar, but I couldn't place where I knew her. "Demons don't bother me at all." She smiled at me.

"Somehow, I knew you were going to say that," she said. "By the way." She reached out her hand. "I'm Yami. Don't ask for a last name, I won't tell you. And for being a demon, I'm half succubus and half dog-demon."

"Well, you already know me," I said, slightly interested in her, slightly perplexed. This Yami was a bit strange.

"Mom!" Sami-chan was at my leg. I hadn't even heard him come in. He looked up at Yami, who smiled down at him.

"Your son?" she asked. I nodded.

"One of three," I said proudly. "Do you have children?"

"Two," she answered. "They came down sick with something, so I left my husband at home to take care of them. He didn't want to come anyway."

"I'm hungry," Horeshio said, also coming up behind me. Yami's eyes widened as she looked at him, and then looked at me with shock evident in her eyes. I knew demons had better senses than humans did, especially dog-demons, and I knew she could sense something about Horeshio.

"Yami. Why are you here?" came an icy, and all too familiar to me, voice from the doorway. Yami gasped and jumped, turning to face the speaker.

"I can't come to pay my respects to the dead, Kikyo?" she asked, her voice taking on the same icy quality as my sister's.

"I thought we made it clear you were not to come," Kikyo answered back. Yami's eyes flashed, and her hands fisted at her sides before she calmed down and walked briskly out of the room. I was confused by the whole exchange.

"Kikyo, what was that about?" I asked her. It was not unusual for Kikyo to be icy to people she didn't like, but what she had just done was downright rude.

"Kagome. I see you are doing well," she said, completely ignoring my question.

"Answer the question, Kikyo," I said.

"She was told not to come," Kikyo said simply. "And she came anyway."

"Why was she told not to come?"

"I believe that it does not concern you," she replied. Next to me, Horeshio was glaring at Kikyo. "It is between Mother and I. She wants to have a word with you, after the funeral. Something about Dr. Iwata's death I think." She was feigning innocence; she and I both knew it. However, before I could ask her another question, she walked down the hallway, and left me with no choice but to find Mitsu and Ana-chan, and hurry into the room she disappeared into, just as the services were starting.

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My very belated Christmas gift to my readers. I hope you had a nice holiday, and I hope the New Year brings happiness. (Can you tell I'm trying to get reviews here? No? Guess I shouldn't have said anything then…) Please R&R! That can be my belated Christmas gift!


	14. The Past Chapter

Chapter 13: The Past

Yami 396

Lucky chapter 13.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention, but in the earlier chapters, I kind of screwed up Sesshoumaru's speech patterns, so I corrected them in this chapter. (And I hate his speech patterns!)

Dedicated to Liany. Are you happy now?

Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I just want to borrow Sesshoumaru-sama for a little while…heh, heh…

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It was slightly cooler in the forest than it was in the sunlight, and I shivered slightly. The forest had always had a surreal quality to it, always quiet, the green foliage causing everything to bathed in a pale green light. Yet, the forest was deadly. Many demons hid in the thick underbrush, waiting for someone foolish enough to walk through so they could attack. Often times, whenever the shrine was attacked, the demons always came out of the forest. I tried to keep my footsteps light so as not to alert any demonic presence, but years of experience had taught me that demons could sense humans, and especially miko ones, in other ways than just sound.

Worse still, I had lost track of Sesshoumaru-sama's youki. Try as I might, I could not sense it anymore, which led me into a panic. I was probably somewhere in the middle of the forest by now, and was also hopelessly lost. I didn't have my bow and arrows with me, and I couldn't purify any demons because my strength was spent. It wasn't a good situation.

"Idiot," I mumbled under my breath. "Drags me out into the middle of the forest and then doesn't even have the decency to show up!" A twig snapped behind me, and I whirled around, thinking it was Sesshoumaru-sama, ready to give him a piece of my mind, demon lord or not. I came face to face with a centipede demon. A very hungry centipede I must add. It grinned at me, showing rows of pointed teeth. It was a very hungry, carnivorous, centipede demon. I screamed and jumped back as it lunged at me, teeth tearing through the shoulder of my shirt. I grimaced and fell down, clutching my shoulder. I didn't have enough strength to even get up, never mind purify it. _"I'm going to die here!"_ I thought wildly as the centipede demon lunged again. I shut my eyes and waited for my inevitable end.

Nothing happened. I heard a scream, presumably the centipede demon, and that was it. When I gathered enough to courage to open my eyes, I saw Sesshoumaru-sama standing over me, sword unsheathed, centipede demon dead a few feet behind him.

"Th-thanks," I said, still a bit shaky.

"This Sesshoumaru did not do it to save you," he replied. I rolled my eyes. Sure he didn't…He just wanted to test out his sword.

"I'm guessing you heard the battle that was going on a while ago," I said, standing up. My shoulder twinged, and I could see little rivers of blood flow down my arm. Well, there went the 'I did not go into the forest to meet with Kage's older and much hated half-brother; I was simply in my room getting new clothes' excuse I had cooked up. I sighed. Maybe I could say I got hurt during the battle with Naraku, but I doubted that would work. Kikyo had seen me right before I snuck out, and she would tell Mom if I was lying to her. "You could have helped, you know," I grumbled, upset that I was going to be found out. Sesshoumaru-sama smirked.

"This Sesshoumaru does not help humans," he said loftily. "This Sesshoumaru would have defeated that pathetic half-demon if he had not started fighting your family."

"Uh-huh," was all that I replied. I was more preoccupied with my wound than I was with him. Pulling down the collar of my shirt off of my shoulder, I could see the two jagged tears that were bleeding rather heavily. On closer inspection, they looked worse than they were. They were shallow, more like long scratches instead of teeth marks. They just bled a lot, that was all.

"You need to bandage that," Sesshoumaru-sama said, glancing at my shoulder.

"With what?" I snapped back. I had never gotten used to how fast he could move, so when I blinked and he was right in front of me, I was more than just a little startled. "Gah!" I yelped, restrained by one of his hands holding my uninjured shoulder, the other ripping a good portion of my shirt off of the bottom. "Ack! Wh-what do you think you're doing?" I was pretty sure my face was burning.

"Bandaging your shoulder," he said simply. "Now take off you shirt."

"WHAT?" Forget burning, my face must have been glowing. And he was watching this looking faintly amused! "Why should I do that?" I half yelled, half whined.

"How else do you expect this Sesshoumaru to bandage your shoulder?"

"Err..." He was right, and I couldn't go home letting it bleed like that. Of course, now that my shirt was pretty much in tatters, I was sunk any way I tried to get out of suspicion. I glared daggers at him, which he didn't seem to care about, and grudgingly slipped out my ruined shirt, face glowing like a beacon, and heart beating so fast I thought it might explode. Part of me though, the one that always felt like I was betraying Kage every time I saw Sesshoumaru-sama, was screeching like banshee inside of my head. _"You little idiot! Get out of there!"_ it was yelling at me. However, in all of my nervousness, my legs had forgotten how to move, and my mind was very unwilling to make them move.

"Nervous?" Sesshoumaru-sama asked me, face close to mine. I froze, and remained unmoving the whole time he bandaged my shoulder. When he was done, I remembered to breathe again, and dove for my shirt, pulling it on quickly.

"I've, uh, I'vegottago," I said in one big rush. He smirked again, and didn't move. "What?" I asked, getting all the more uneasy.

"If you do get caught sneaking in," he began, and my mouth fell open. How did he know I was planning on sneaking back in? "Tell the one you call Kage that when this Sesshoumaru sees him, he will be rust on Tokijin." Of all the nerve!

"I don't plan on getting caught," I informed him, trying to sound confident and failing miserably.

"This Sesshoumaru said 'if' you get caught." He and I both knew he was implying that I was going to get caught. He turned to leave, and I blurted out a question I knew was none of my business but still had to ask anyway.

"Was Rin-san your mate?" That was the only reason why Sesshoumaru-sama was bent on killing Kage that I could come up with. He turned around again and studied me, while I shrank under his gaze. I never like being stared at, and he made it worse. Again, he moved too quickly for me to see, and the next thing I knew he was standing in front of me, and I craned my neck back to look at him, sweating slightly.

"No," he simply said. "But she was going to be the day she died." He left, and I just stood there, blinking in shock. I felt sad, very near tears, and yet part of me was relived for a reason I didn't know. I shook my head to clear my mind up, and started back to the shrine, after I found a trail. Once I reached home, I walked around back, and tried to decide how to scale the way up to my bedroom window. That's when I noticed the shadow moving in my window. I watched it for a few minutes, and realized it was Kage.

"Kage! Why are you in my room?" I yelled up to him. The shadow froze, and then he opened the window.

"Kagome? Why are you outside?" he asked. "I've-I mean everybody is looking for you!" he shouted out. Then he took in my appearance. "Damn it Kagome! What the hell did you do to yourself?"

"Help get in my room and I'll tell you," I said.

"Can you climb that gutter?" he asked, pointing to it.

"I don't think that can hold my weight," I said looking at it. That gutter was ancient, and I didn't know how much weight it could support.

"Just try it!"

"If I die, I'm blaming you!" I shouted as I began to climb it. It shook, and groaned, and a couple of times, I thought it was going to fall off, but it held my weight until I reached the window. Kage held out his hand for me to grab, leaning out the window as far as he could without falling out. I seized it, and he pulled into my room with a little too much enthusiasm, so when I cleared the windowsill, we both went sprawling on the floor.

"You pulled too hard!" I accused him, rubbing my sore elbow.

"If you weren't so weak, I wouldn't have had to pull that hard!" he snapped back, eyes traveling all over me. I gasped when I realized that the tear in my shirt revealed a lot more midriff than I was comfortable with. "What happened to you?" he demanded.

_"What am I supposed to tell him?"_ I asked myself. _"Let's see, I felt your brother's presence in the forest, so I went to talk to him, even though I've been warned not to, and on the way, a centipede demon attacked me and kind of bit my shoulder, but your brother killed it, and then he bandaged my shoulder with the part of my shirt that's gone, and I had to take off my shirt for him to do that. Sorry. Oh, and by the way, I found out the girl that you supposedly killed was going to be his mate. Ain't that sad?"_ Somehow, I didn't think that was going to work out too well in my favor, so I told him a condensed version of my story. "I saw something in the forest, and when I went to investigate, a demon attacked me and got my shoulder. Since I didn't have any bandages, I used the bottom part of my shirt to stop the bleeding." It wasn't a complete lie, so it was better than nothing.

"Is your shoulder okay?" he asked, genuinely concerned. I nearly burst into tears because of that, but I held them in. "Can I see it?" he asked. I nodded, and pulled the collar of my abused shirt off my shoulder to show him the already blood-soaked makeshift bandage. He brows knitted together as he looked at it.

"It's going to get infected if you don't bandage it again," he said, his dark eyes meeting mine. When they did that, I felt my breath catch in my throat, and butterflies started dancing in my stomach. "What are you gawking at wench?" That snapped me out of my trance. Sighing, I moved away from him, and hunted around under my bed to find the first aid kit I hid under there. I pulled it out.

"Turn around, and if you look, I'll purify you," I warned him. He snorted.

"Yeah right, wench. You couldn't purify me," he said cockily.

"Don't make me want to try," I snapped, wrapping the self-adhesive gauze around my shoulder and pulling on a new shirt. "And I didn't appreciate you staring at me before." That was a lie…sort of.

"Feh," came the reply, from somewhere above me. I jumped slightly and looked up. Kage was leaning over the side of my bed, looking down at me from where I sat. He leaned closer as if he was going to kiss me.

"Nonononononono!" I yelled, waving my hands in front of my face. He lost his balance and crashed to the floor.

"What the hell was that wench?" he yelled, pulling himself into a seated position.

"It was all you fault!" I gasped, trying to calm my nerves. Had he really just tried to kiss me? And did I just push him away like that? I am such an IDIOT! What's wrong with me? But what if he wasn't? What if he was just going to say something or make fun of me? I'm still the world's biggest idiot!

"Whatever wench. Come one, let's go," he said, getting up. His feelings were hurt, even though he was trying to hide them. I acted on impulse and hugged him from behind. "What the fu-?" I cut him off.

"No reason. I just wanted to say thanks," I said into his hair. Thanks for what, I don't think either of knew, but neither of us made a move to end the moment. There was something about him that made me angry with him for one minute, and then want to hug him the next. Ask me, and I wouldn't be able to explain what I was feeling.

"You're a freaky wench," he replied when I let go of him. "Leave, before you decide to attach yourself to me again!" Laughing, I walked out and down the hallway, in a considerably better mood. I stopped in a room downstairs to see how Miroku-sama was.

"How is he?" I whispered to Sango-chan. She didn't answer right away, and she hastily swiped her hand across her eyes.

"He hasn't woken up yet," she said, not turning to face me. She didn't need to; I could tell she had been crying from her actions.

"I'm sure he'll be fine, Sango-chan," I tried to reassure her.

"He should have woken up by now, Kagome-chan," she said dejectedly. She sniffed, and her eyes glistened. I sat next to her.

"You really do love him, don't you?" She looked flustered.

"What! No I don't!" she exclaimed, blushing furiously.

"Oh really?"

"Yes!"

"Then why are you blushing so much?"

"…"

"I thought so." I enjoyed teasing Sango-chan.

"I could say the same thing about you and Kage," she said in retaliation. It was my turn to blush now.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"Come one, Kagome-chan. I know you like him!"

"Yeah, as a friend!"

"Oh, really? Maybe you do, but he definitely likes you." Miroku-sama began to stir, and Sango-chan jumped up, teasing forgotten.

"Houshi-sama!" she said, relief passing over her face.

"Sango-chan, Kagome-sama," he said weakly.

"Don't talk!" Sango-chan said, concern evident. "You're still too weak!" She leaned over so that she could replace the cloth on his head with a cooler one.

"Don't worry about me Sango-chan," he said, raising his hand with the Kazanaa to stop her. He froze halfway, shock and horror evident on his face as he stared at his hand.

"What is it?" I said, rushing over. Had the Kazanaa gotten larger? Was he closer to dying now? I sucked in a breath at that thought; I coulnd't bear lose any of my friends. Sango-chan too looked worried, until her face started to flame bright red. I smacked my head into the palm of my hand. We had forgotten that Miroku-sama was also a con artist besides being a monk, and he had taken this time to allow himself a grope at Sango-chan's expense.

"HENTAI!" she yelled, hitting him hard in the head. Shippo-chan walked in.

"Kaede-sama wanted to know how he was doing," he said. Sango-chan turned to look at him.

"Tell her he's fine," she said stiffly before exiting the room.

"Miroku groped her, didn't he?" Shippo-chan said, more of a statement than a question. I nodded sadly.

"Miroku-sama, you have to stop doing that. If you love her, you have to tell her," I said to him.

"But I do tell her!" he whined. I shook my head.

"Grabbing her butt like that isn't telling her anything except that you're a pervert," I told him bluntly.

"But it's not my fault. My hand's possessed!"

"That's the lamest excuse I've heard," Shippo-chan said. I laughed, and Miroku-sama tried his best to give me a hurt expression, but that just made me laugh even harder.

"Let me guess, that lecher groped Sango again," Kage's voice came from the doorway. I nodded, unable to stop laughing. It was infectious, and pretty soon was everybody was laughing except for Kage, who allowed himself only to smile openly. Even Miroku-sama laughed, after he saw that he wasn't going to get any sympathy from the rest of us.

"I see you're all getting along fine," my mother said, looking from behind Kage. She was smiling, which was good. It was rare to see her smiling ever, and I was glad that she wasn't mad at me like she was the last time we saw each other. "I forgot to tell you Kagome! You've gotten stronger, haven't you? That was an impressive display of power you showed when we were fighting Naraku." I blushed under her praise, spirits elated and soaring.

"Thank you, Mom." I said, trying my best to act humble. She saw through the act.

"Don't bother trying that. I can see right through you." She laughed truly for the first time in months. My smile broadened. It was good to hear her laughing, even though it wouldn't last as long as we would have hoped for.

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(Shrugs.) Meh, it wanted to end there. So I let it, and besides, I liked the way this chapter came out. So there Liany, it's an update. (Sticks tongue out.) NYAAHH!

Read and review, especially since my birthday is coming up! Reviews as presents!


	15. The Present Chapter

Chapter 14: The Present

Yami396

This chapter is the product of staying up late and watching a Freddy Krueger marathon. Now I have that deranged rhyme in my head, and I really don't feel like sleeping…

Dedicated to YuniX-2 because she's my longest running reviewer. Kudos!

Warning – Mature themes ahead. Strong violence, and those with hyperactive imaginations, intense scenes of blood and gore.

Disclaimer – Have you not been reading the past fourteen chapters? Do you really think I would be writing this in the dead of night, completely terrified of some movie character that infiltrates dreams and kills you if I owned InuYasha? So for the record, I do not own anything except the plot, Ana-chan, Mitsu, and Sami-chan.

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Still slightly perplexed about my exchange with Kikyo and Yami, I searched Mitsu out of the throng of grieving relatives and took my place in the endless sea of black. We blended right in, Mitsu sitting stiffly next to me in his starched shirt, Sami-chan trying to copy his father exactly, Ana-chan fiddling with the hem of her dress, and Horeshio, tugging irritably on his tie. I grabbed his fidgeting hands in my own, holding them for a moment until he yanked them back with the whispered proclamation, "I'm not a baby anymore!" I found myself smiling, even though everyone else in the room had settled into somber silence, and a line was already forming at Great-Aunt Kaede's casket.

In actuality, I've always hated wakes. I don't why, but just the idea of viewing a person's body makes me queasy. I once asked Dr. Iwata about it, and he described it as some sort of pathological fear brought on by a frightening experience as a child. He said that it was probably because my father died when I was so young, and because he died traumatically, it left scars in my subconscious. When I told him I had no problem watching horror movies, he replied that movies and real life are different, and as such, a body on a movie screen wouldn't affect me like a body would if I just happened to stumble upon it on the street. I argued that a body on the street would affect anybody rather badly, no matter what sort of pathological fear they had. Then he brought up the case about Himata Sango.

Himata Sango, or Sango-chan as we called her, was a family acquaintance, never failing to visit us on any holiday, or on any day she felt like coming over. She seemed to know me very well, though my first recollection of her was when I woke up in a hospital bed and saw her sitting in a chair next to me, eyes red from crying. It was an awkward meeting, she flinging herself onto my arm, breaking out into a fresh bout of tears, saying how glad she was that I was alive, and I, shocked into silence, trying in vain to remember who she was. In time, Kikyo walked in, and, grabbing the distraught girl by the arm, dragged her out into the hallway, hissing something under her breath. Sango gave her a blank look, and Kikyo whispered something in her ear. Sango's eyes widened, and amidst another torrent of tears, yelled, "I've already lost two people I care for, I'm not going to lose her as well!"

"Keep your voice down!" Kikyo snapped, her hands tightening around Sango's wrist. "Believe me, I don't like this either, more so than you, but it's easier on Kagome this way. If she finds out what happened…the doctors say we could lose her." Kikyo's eyes were a stormy blue, her inner turmoil unreadable in her calm countenance, except for her eyes. "You may think I don't care, but I take no pleasure in watching my sister slowly wither away because she's too fragile to handle the truth." Even to this day, I still don't understand what she meant when she uttered that.

But Sango was the only visitor besides my family I had during my stay at the hospital. And she was a fiercely loyal friend, always there when I needed a helping hand, or when I needed a shoulder to cry on. She was the one who found me an apartment to live in once Horeshio was born and Mom made it clear I was on my own, and she pulled a few strings as her job to allow me to work with her as well. We were more like sisters than friends, but even still, we had our secrets, mine buried deep where I could not remember, and hers to painful to mention. It showed, premature lines snaking down her pretty face, making her look older than only one year my senior.

She never liked Mitsu though. Every time they were in the same room together, sparks would fly, and tension would be thick in the air. Neither one provoked the other, but Sango seemed to have some sort of grudge against him, and Mitsu just plain didn't like her. They never talked to one another; instead they sat at opposite ends of the table, and glared at each other in stony silence. It made me uncomfortable, and I'm sure it annoyed Great-Aunt Kaede to death because she would always look disapprovingly at each one in turn.

Our friendship ended in the middle of summer, when my family and I planned a vacation to celebrate Sami-chan's arrival. We invited her to come along with us, and we all had a good time, until it neared the end of our stay. We were lounging around, watching the ocean and commenting how pretty it looked in the moonlight, when loud bangs and crashes sounded from behind the beach house. Sango automatically reached for her giant boomerang that she always carried with her. It was a habit, developed during the Demonic Revolutions as she said, and whenever she felt nervous or on edge, she would reach for the weapon. We told her it was probably a raccoon or something going through the garbage cans, but she wouldn't listen to us, saying that she felt the presence of a demon. I'll never forget that look she had on her face, as if something from her past had come back to haunt her, how the lines marring her complexion deepened, and her mouth tightened into a grim line. She looked like a warrior, facing a foe she knew she would never defeat; yet she would die trying anyway. She left, and we stayed indoors under her orders.

Thirty minutes went by, and she still hadn't returned. I was worried, but Mitsu said she was probably doing a sweep of the entire area just to be safe. Forty minutes…nothing. Finally, after over an hour, when she still didn't come back, we searched for her, walking the tide line down to a secluded part of the beach, where we finally found her.

The smell hit me first. Excretions mixed with blood blew into my face, settling in my clothes, weaving into my hair, sinking in through my pores. Then the sight of the horrible carnage that stood before me seared itself into my memory before I lapsed into a comatose state.

She had been strangled, left to die hanging from a branch by her own intestines, blood dripping steadily off her feet and onto the ground, saturating the sand beneath her. Lifeless eyes gazed out at nothing while a thin trickle of crimson escaped her mouth, open in a silent scream, and the hole in her abdomen gaped, entrails spilling out, yawning wider and wider, consuming me…

I woke up ten days later.

"Kagome!" I jumped, startled out of my trance, to see Mitsu pulling on my arm.

"Come one, we're the last ones," he said. "I know you don't like this kind of thing…"

"Oh, you have no idea," I muttered in gruesome humor.

"But you've got to get through this for your family," he finished, guiding me to the casket. "I'm right here, there's nothing to be afraid of." I wanted to tell him that there was a lot to be afraid of, but instead, I steeled myself, and gave poor Great-Aunt Kaede I quick look, said a quiet prayer, and then bolted the hell out of there…

…Right into a very large bosom.

"Oh Kagome-chan! This must be so hard for you!" The muffled sound of a woman's voice reached my ears, followed by the crushing weight of her arms. "Poor old dear, she had such a hard life."

"_I'm going to die here,"_ I thought_. "Crushed at twenty-five by an overweight woman giving me a bear hug."_ When I expended my oxygen supply, and I swore I saw blackness creeping up on me through the corner of my eyes, the woman released me, and I was able to breathe again, though the smell of baby powder and cheap perfume still hovered around me.

"Kagome-chan, don't you recognize me?" I was pretty sure I had never seen this woman in my life, but for the benefit of doubt, I cautiously shook my head. She pouted. "Well, I remember you! I can't believe you would forget you dear old Auntie Shinju."

Auntie?

She continued, even though I'm sure she realized I thought she was crazy.

"I've got something for you, if I remember where I put the darned thing." She rummaged around her oversized bag, tsking occasionally, sometimes pausing to shake the bag. "Well, I guess I must've left it in the car. Oh well, I guess you'll just have to come with me to get it."

That sounded deliberate, but before I had the chance to question her, she took hold of my wrist with a surprisingly fast hold, and literally dragged me out into the parking lot.

"What is going on?" I asked out of exasperation, massaging some feeling back into my numb wrist.

"Just be patient now, your Great-Aunt Kaede kept this a long time for you, and she said to give it to you when she died," Shinju answered, her bottom waving in the air like a demented flag as she bent over in her trunk. "I know I've got it somewhere…Ah! Here it is!" She handed me something small and rectangular, wrapped in tissue paper.

"A book?" I asked skeptically, eyebrows up. Shinju winked.

"You'll understand when you open it. Just make sure there's no one around when you do." I looked at her sharply, but when I tried to ask her, she cut me off. "Well now, look at the time! I must be going!" With that, she jumped in her car and peeled out of the parking lot, zooming down the street. I stood there, blinking.

"Strange…" I said, turning my package over in my hands. If that Shinju woman was telling the truth, and Great-Aunt Kaede did want me to have this, then why would she wait until she was dead for me to receive it? It made no sense. And why did I have to wait until there was no one around me to open it?

"Who was that?" I turned, package slipping into the waistband of my skirt.

"Some weird aunt," I told my mother. "Said she had something for me, but turned out that she forgot it." My mother shook her head.

"And you're alright?" I nodded. "You don't have to go back in there is you don't want to," she told me, her eyes softening. "I know how much you hate wakes and the like. It may be best if you stayed in the car."

"I thought you wanted to talk to me," I asked in confusion. My mother's eyebrows knit together.

"No, there's nothing coming to mind at the moment."

"But Kikyo said you wanted to discuss Dr. Iwata's death."

"Really? Kikyo didn't mention that to me." We were both confused, biting out lips thinking. "Are you sure it was Kikyo?"

"Positive Mom," I answered. "And she sent someone off too."

"Who?" There was hardness to her tone now.

"A woman named Yami." I declined to mention she was a demon.

"Did she now…" My mother's voice had turned cold. "When was this?"

"Right before services started." She blinked.

"You're sure?" she asked sharply. When I nodded, she said, "Kikyo just arrived a few minutes ago." Now it was my turn to stare.

"She what?" I asked, suddenly apprehensive. About what, I knew not, but there was definitely something wrong here.

"Wait in the car," she said, turning on her heel. "I want to see something." She went back inside. I walked to the car and sat down, only to shoot back up again when my package poked me in the back. Out of irresistible curiosity, I opened it, and out fell a worn little book, soft to the touch, nearly ready to fall apart.

_"What on earth is this?"_ I wondered, flipping it open. I page flew out, and I caught it, recognizing Great-Aunt Kaede's handwriting.

"_Kagome, if you are reading this, it means that I have died. The heavy secrets of our family have worn me down, and I believe it is time to end them. But to do so, you must take a heavy burden on your shoulders, but I know you are strong enough to do this. You have asked me, time and time again, to tell you of your missing years. It is best, to let you tell yourself what happened. Delve into the mysteries of your past, but do so at discretion. There are enemies, closer then you think, and they will stop at nothing to end your search for answers. If you are ready to leave all that you know about yourself, your family, and you friends, begin reading the book."_

With shaking hands, I looked closely at the worn book in my lap, and read the cover.

"_My Diary. Don't read it Kikyo."_

Oh…Kami save me.

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Evil cliffhanger! MWAHAHAHA!

So am I deranged? Only a little. I've had some creepy death scenes in my head all night because of that stupid Freddy Krueger thing…Gah!

Read and Review ('cause it's my birthday) and stay tuned for more drama in upcoming chapters!


	16. The Past Epic

Chapter 15: The Past

Yami-396

I was in the bakery picking up bread when I was suddenly seized with the urge to write. I don't know why, but somehow, cake reminded me of this story…

Disclaimer: I own nothing affiliated with InuYasha or Rumiko Takahashi. But I wish I did.

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It's quite depressing really, when we come across the dilapidated ruins of a once-thriving city.

Of course, there are other cities, elsewhere on different islands, but with the total absence of them on our journey, it made me forget that I was in present-day Japan, and not in some alternate universe of Japan, where everything reverted back to its Feudal stages.

Sometimes, and I mean very rarely, we managed to stumble upon a town, a kind of suburbs, sheltered either by thick forests, mountains, canyons, or more often, wards. But cities we never found. Cities were too dangerous, the vast amount of people and the extensive underground network of pipes hid demons well, and went unnoticed until it was far too late.

Kage, who had for the time being, changed to InuYasha, said that Naraku had been here, somewhere hiding out, watching one of his sadistic plays acted out. We were picking through the remains of a once sprawling metropolis, walking down a torn up street, watching as dust sparkled in the air, and looking out for steel beams hanging haphazardly from their frames, their long tapering fingers, bent and broken, reaching up for the sky, except for the time when one of them had torn loose from its companions, and rushed towards Earth groaning and screeching, crashing right in front of us. The shockwave caused the destruction around us to rattle, and we had to be cautious until we were able to leave.

"This is all sort of morbidly fascinating," I commented, gingerly climbing over the remains of a tree, torn from its roots with massive force.

"What it is, is depressing," Sango-chan muttered, trying to hold her grip on a building frame as she gently lowered herself into what looked like it used to be a basement. "InuYasha, are you sure you smell Naraku here?"

"Feh! Of course I'm sure," he scoffed in answer, ears swiveling, seeking out any sound of danger. "His stench is reeking all over the place!"

"Just be careful," Miroku-sama warned us, balancing on the crooked pavement, more like islands of black tar in a vast sea of rifts rather than a street, with Shippo-chan clutching his shoulder. "We don't know if any demons, or humans, for that matter, are still here."

"They wouldn't have survived the miasma," I said, shaking my head. "Remember? I had to shoot an arrow through it to purify it." When we had first stumbled upon the ruins, a purple cloud of miasma had been hanging over the city, like what a pestilence would look like it were tangible. Only an arrow from me had dispersed it, and we had proceeded.

"True…"

"But what's really unnerving," Sango-chan said, climbing out of the hole that served as a basement and walking towards us. "Is that there is a complete lack of bodies around here."

"T-that's bad?" Shippo-chan stuttered, his bushy tail puffing up to equal the size of his body. Sango-chan nodded.

"I've been fighting battles longer than most of you have," she explained. "And when there's been this much destruction, there's a body count to go with it. Here though, there's nothing."

"Couldn't they have just escaped?" I asked. "I mean, maybe they saw the miasma and ran."

"If they had escaped, there wouldn't be such a stench of death in the air," InuYasha answered, looking back at me. For some reason, I blushed, and looked up again only when Sango-chan began to talk again.

"Kagome-chan, we've been traveling for almost two months together now, and every time we've come upon a village that's been attacked or destroyed, there's always at least a few bodies."

"Yeah…But then what happened here?"

"She's right, Sango," Miroku said. "Dead bodies can't move by themselves."

"But others can move them," Sango-chan said gravely, her eyes grim and her mouth set in a straight line.

"Are you suggesting that someone came here before us and took the bodies?" he asked incredulously, looking all the more stunned when Sango-chan nodded.

"Feh," InuYasha snorted, crossing his arms and turning away. "That's absurd!"

"But when it comes to Naraku, does absurdity even matter?"

My head snapped back as soon as soon as I heard the voice, but by then, we were surrounded by youki-laced winds that tore at our hair, and blew dust into our eyes until we had to close them from the pain. Debris flew past us, and I cried out as glass shards sliced at my face. The whirlwind lasted only a few seconds before it calmed down, and we were able to open our eyes again and put down our arms that were shielding our faces and see the damage that was done.

My face smarted from the dozen or so little cuts that trickled blood down my neck, and Sango-chan was furiously blinking her eyes, trying to dispel the irritation that inflamed them, as was Miroku, but InuYasha was the one who was the most injured.

A gash stretched from his jaw to his bangs, curving along his cheek, blood oozing down to stain his clothes a darker red than they already were. Smaller wounds opened the skin on his forehead, and the stream of blood dripped steadily into his eyes, but his arm was what we were all staring at.

His arm was completely crushed from the elbow down; hanging at odd angles in some places, bone jutting through skin in others. His fingers were bent and broken, the claws on most of them were torn off, and blood collected in a crimson puddle under his arm. Sango-chan looked at him and made a retching noise, but for the most part, InuYasha seemed unfazed by his horrific injuries and kept his attention focused on the figure in front of us, blurry because of all the dust in the air.

As the dust settled back down, the figure became clearer, and I could make out that we were looking at a woman, dressed in the traditional Japanese two-layered kimono, a fan held in her outstretched arm. Black hair was pulled back and tied up, bangs stopping just above pupil-less red eyes, and her crimson lips were smiling, not a terrible evil smile, but a nice smile, one that old friends would give each other if they happened to meet on the street.

"It's too bad you didn't come here sooner," she said, a pretty lilt tinting her voice. "Maybe you could have done something to help."

"Who the hell are you?" InuYasha snarled, moving forward, his left arm flopping uselessly as his side. "And why do you stink of Naraku?"

"Hasn't anyone taught you manners, you cur?" the woman, demon, asked almost playfully, tapping her chin with her fan. "But if you must know, I am Kagura, the Wind Demon!" She flicked her fan, and another whirlwind surrounded us. This time, though, it was stronger, and heavier debris began hurtling towards us. I heard Shippo-chan squeal, and instinctively ran towards him. It wasn't a particularly nasty wound; a small rock had bonked him on the head, but it was bleeding a bit, and I think the sight of his own blood scared him more than the actual cut.

"Shippo-chan," I said, stooping down and holding him. "You'll be alright. It's only a little cut." I patted his head a few times, and he regained his composure, pushing my hand aside, and trying to stand tall.

"I wasn't scared," he said, puffing up, though the redness underlying his eyes testified against that statement.

"Then why were you crying?" I asked him. He looked at me indignantly.

"I wasn't crying! There was someth-! Kagome! Look out!" His green eyes widened, and I turned to meet a steel beam hurtling straight for my abdomen.

From that moment on, I felt as if everything around me was going in slow motion, the way a death scene would play out in a B-movie. I heard Shippo-chan scuttle away, probably trying to get help or attention, but it sounded strangely muted, as if I were listening to it underwater. Sango-chan screamed and threw her Hiraikotsu, but it had little effect on the reinforced steel. I saw InuYasha's face, twisted into a mask of grief, pain, and desperation as he ran towards me as fast as he could, even though we both knew he wouldn't reach me in time to save me. I know it must have taken only a few seconds at the most, but to me, it felt like eternity. Then blackness filled my vision, and sharp pain coursed up my body.

But strangely, the pain stayed with me, even though I was sure it would only be few minutes of agony before I died. And the pain wasn't even in the right spot. My wrist hurt, not my abdomen, and cautiously, I opened my eyes, expecting to see steel imbedded in my flesh.

Miroku grinned down at me.

"Kagome-sama," he said reproachfully, even though the smile on his face told me he was half-joking with me. "I do believe you weren't paying attention." I could only stare up at him, watching as glass and concrete was sucked into his Kazaana, its dark light creating a halo around his palm.

"You stupid wench!" InuYasha shouted, stomping over to me. "Can't you ever pay attention in battle?" He grabbed me by my wrist and pulled me up, only to let go startled when I hissed in pain. "Ka-Kagome?"

"I think I might've done something to my wrist," I whispered, every nerve in my hand screaming pain.

"Let me see." He took my wrist in his good hand and probed the skin, stopping occasionally when I whimpered.

"I think you broke it," he said. "I can't be sure, but try to move your fingers." I tried, but that only created more pain. "Yeah, you did."

"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I should have paid more attention." I sniffled.

"You were only trying to protect that runt," he answered gruffly. "I can't blame you for that. I should have been watching out for you." I was about to protest, but Kagura cut us off.

"Can we save the sap for somewhere else?" she asked sarcastically. "I'm through here." She pulled a feather from the bindings that held up her hair, and almost immediately, it expanded nearly three times its size, floating up in the air, taking her with it. She flicked her fan again. "Dance of the Dead!"

And that was when we found out what had happened to the bodies.

It was an army of the dead, easily topping the thousands area with more than enough for seconds. I gagged at the sight and smell of them; skin was peeling off of some of them, others were missing entire limbs, with bits and pieces of bone and flesh flaking off, sometimes with whole chunks of skin fell to the ground with a squelch. And they smelled like rot and decay with a mix of Naraku's miasma swirling about them. High above us, Kagura laughed, and as if it were some kind of cue, the dead launched into an attack.

One jumped out at InuYasha, and he punched it, his fist cracking through bone to come out the other side of the thing's head. Still, it persisted, traveling down InuYasha's arm, reaching out with its arms to try and grab his throat, even though InuYasha's wrist was now clearly visible from the back of it's head, covered in a trail of red, pink, and flesh down to InuYasha's elbow. I gagged as InuYasha snarled at it and pulled his fist out, creating an even wider hole, before he simply cleaved the thing in two with Tetsusaiga.

"InuYasha!" I called, whipping my bow around me, striking off limbs of whatever dead thing happened to be right next to me. "Use the Kaze No Kizu!"

"I can't!" he yelled, using his only good arm to defend himself against the onslaught. "That Kagura bitch controls the wind! I can't find the scar!"

"And Houshi-sama can't use his Kazaana either!" Sango-chan called to me, her Hiraikotsu spiraling through the air. "The Saimyosho are here!" Sure enough, the Hell Insects were twisting their way through the animated corpses, keeping careful watch on Miroku.

"These things just don't quit!" he yelled, throwing ofudas. "Even if you hit them, they get back up!"

"There's gotta be some way to stop them!" I shrieked as a pair of disembodied legs ran towards me, and I thrashed my bow at it, chopping through sinewy flesh.

"I can make a barrier, but I don't know how long I can hold it!" Miroku said, and we formed a ring around him as he concentrated and jammed his staff into the ground. The corpses near by were shocked by the sudden blast of the barrier, but there was such a multitude of the dead, that it did nothing to lessen their numbers.

I don't know for how long Miroku held the barrier, but the sea of dead didn't show any signs of letting up, and Miroku was obviously fatigued.

"I don't think I can hold it much longer," he said through gritted teeth, sweat pouring down his forehead. Kagura laughed again.

"Why don't you just give up?" she mocked us from her position in the air.

"Don't listen," InuYasha growled. The barrier began to flicker. The dead pressed more upon it. Miroku was near the verge of collapsing. The barrier flickered more. The dead pushed harder. I tried concentrating my power, but I had never been able to create a barrier before, so all I did was purify a few corpses with random sparks of power. And I couldn't shoot my bow with my wrist broken. The barrier started to crumble. Kagura laughed.

And then we were blasted by raw youki that disintegrated any sign of the corpses around us, taking the remnants of our barrier with it. Kagura screamed, but I still felt her youki, weak as it was now, and it retreated, in what direction, I couldn't tell; the dust had blown up again, and all of us simply collapsed from sheer fatigue.

We rested there for maybe half-an-hour before we moved into the woods to set up camp for the night. InuYasha refused to change back into his human form, he said he needed to heal his arm, and we had to carry Miroku the last few steps on Kirara. I helped Sango-chan nurse her wounds, and she bandaged my wrist for me. I offered to patch up InuYasha's gash, but he pushed me away and told me to get some sleep.

I woke up to Kage leaning over me, and he startled me so much that I slapped him away hard, and reopened the gash. He refused to talk to me the rest of the day, despite my pleas that I hadn't known who he was.

Two days later, he was completely healed, and we reached a large town, not a metropolis, but definitely bigger than the villages we had been accustomed to.

"Wards," Miroku said, looking up at the town's large gates. "To keep demons out."

"Does that mean I can't come?" Shippo-chan whined, eyeing me.

"I'll bring you back lots of pocky," I said, knowing of his slightly unnatural love of the confection. "Besides, you'll have Kirara to keep you company.

Did I imagine it, or did Kirara just give me the dirtiest look ever?

"Kage," Sango-chan said. "You know what that means, don't you?" He snorted. "It means that you can't go all demon on somebody to get a free room." We laughed.

"We're not spending the night," he snapped, blushing slightly. "We're going in for supplies and that's it!"

"Aye-aye captain," I joked, marching past him through the gates. Almost immediately I could sense the change from being in the forest to being in the town. There was a sense of security here, something that was sorely missing from anywhere else we had stopped at. In the other villages, people moved quickly, hurrying down the streets in a rush to get back to the safety of their homes. Here though, people moved about slowly, enjoying their walk outdoors, laughing and smiling, chatting with random people on the street, as though a revolution wasn't raging just a few miles away from their gates. A quick look back at my companions told me that they sensed the same sense of security as I did.

"It's like a totally separate universe," Sango-chan whispered, awed. "Even in the Demon Slayer's village, it never felt like this before."

"Well, that's because you didn't have wards," a voice answered her. "These wards are the most effective protection in all of Japan. You can't find them anywhere else." The speaker was a young boy, maybe eight or nine, grinning down at us from his perch atop the spirals of the gates. He jumped down, an easily practiced maneuver from the way he handled it, and swept into a low bow. "I am Sekutsu, the Gate Welcomer."

"The what?" Kage asked blankly, eyeing the child. "What the hell are you talking about, kid?" I kicked him in the shins.

"Manners!" I hissed. He only glared at me, rubbing his abused leg.

"I am Sekutsu," the boy said again. "My job is to watch the gates and tell the Officials whenever somebody new passes through the gates. Or if there's demons, get the Reinforcements to exterminate them."

"So you're basically the watchman," I said. He nodded enthusiastically. "And now you're going to tell the Officials that we're here?"

"Nope, they already know. I saw you way before you entered the gates, and I ran to tell them. I just got back as soon as you entered. Now it's my job to show you around, if you'd like." I was about to say yes, but Kage intervened.

"We're here for supplies, not sightseeing."

"Just don't try anything funny." Sekutsu pointed to the pillars dotting the town at seemingly random intervals. "The Officials and the Reinforcements are watching your every move. 'Cause you can't be too careful, right?" With that, he climbed back up the spiral with the dexterity of a monkey. "Have nice stay!" He waved, and we walked off.

"At least they have a system," Miroku shrugged, eyeing the pillars. "And it seems to be working; this place doesn't look like it's ever been attacked."

"Enough gawking," Kage commanded. "We need to get supplies. Kagome and I will new packs and everything, you and Sango are in charge of getting food."

"There's just one problem with that," Miroku stated. Kage huffed at him.

"What!"

"Our lovely Sango-chan is nowhere to be found."

'What?"

"Really, is that all you can say?

"Teme."

"Sango-chan is right there," I said, laughing, pointing to a street vendor where Sango-chan was talking with the owner. She ran back to us, a brown paper bag clutched in her hands.

"What's the matter," she asked when Miroku and I laughed, and Kage fixed her with a pointed glare. "Did I do something?"

"While you were over there, doing whatever it was you were doing, we were trying to make plans," Kage snapped. Sango wrinkled her nose at him.

"I was hungry. I was buying a snack," she said, pulling a banana out of the bag. "I can't get something to eat?"

"We need to eat too!"

"It wasn't that much money!"

"How can you eat that?"

"You don't like bananas, Kagome-chan?"

"They're inedible!"

"Can we get back on track!" Kage raged, throwing his hands up in the air. He pointed to Sango-chan. "Sango, you and Miroku go find food. Kagome, you and I are going to find anything else we might need, like ropes and junk like that." I nodded.

"Why do I have to go with the hentai?" Sango-chan groused, taking another bite out of her banana. "Can't Kagome-chan and I look for food, and you and Miroku get the rest?"

"Sango-chan," Miroku said, placing a hand over his heart. "You wound me so with your words." He stood next to her. "I would love nothing more than to walk about town with yo-!" Sango-chan's banana whipped out, and she hit him squarely in the eye with it.

"Hentai!" she screamed, throwing the remains at him. "This is why I don't want to go with you!"

"Let's just go," Kage said, nudging me down the street, away form the raging Sango-chan and the laughing Miroku, who was trying unsuccessfully to wipe banana from his eye.

While the town had an abundance of stores, there were very few hardware stores, and in the one we managed to find, everything was so overpriced, we were only able to buy a little of what we needed.

"This is a waste of time," I mumbled. "We find more in the villages than we do here!"

"You wanted to come here," Kage answered.

"I did not!"

"Yeah, you did."

"Did not!"

"Shut up!"

"You're so mean!" I pouted, crossing my arms. "And just for being mean, you have to buy me a cake!"

"Is your brain broken?" he asked me, eyebrows hidden by bangs, but I wasn't paying attention. We had just passed a bakery, which was fuel for my comment to him, and I was staring through the window at all the cakes on display. It was like torture; I knew Kage wouldn't waste money on something we didn't need, but it'd been so long since I had anything relatively from the junk food department except for pocky, that I wanted those cakes so badly. "Can you stop drooling and pick up the pace?"

"Look!" I pointed to a black and white cake. "It's a keki-kage for Kage!"

"You're just a regular comedian, aren't you?" he said dryly, moving past me. "You're delusional."

"No," I corrected. "I'm just in remission."

"From what?"

"My cake habit."

"…Moron," he said at length, shaking his head while I grinned idiotically at him. "Come on, we need to get goi-!" He disappeared, and for one crazy moment, I thought the ground had swallowed him up.

"Kage?" I called, inching over to where he had disappeared. "If this is some sort of sick joke, it isn't funny!" I received no answer. "Kage!" I moved closer, and heaved a sigh of relief when I saw what had happened. There must have been some sort of underground train system, and Kage had stood on one of the grates, his weight causing the rusted metal to break and he fell into one of the tunnels.

Hopefully, the trains weren't running today.

"Kage!" I called again, falling to my knees to peer into the jagged hole. "Are you okay?" The only answer I received was the groaning of metal, and too late had I realized that the already injured grate wouldn't be able to bear the strain of my weight as well. I tried to scramble off it, but it splintered, and I fell with a bone jarring crash into the tunnel.

Spotted lights flickered across my eyes as I groaned and tried to sit up. My head was aching, and I was pretty sure I had at least a mild concussion, but I hadn't hurt my wrist any more than it had been already, which was a good thing, and rising to all fours, I crawled through the tunnel, whispering Kage's name over and over again. Once, I nearly fell into a hole that I could only assume was created by the force of Kage's fall, but that was the only evidence of him that I found.

"Kage," I murmured, not really expecting an answer. "Kage, can you hear me?" Really, I was only talking to myself to pass time. The tunnel seemed never ending, stretching out into inky blackness. Even though it must have been only an hour at most, I felt like I had been crawling for days on end, always heading to some undetermined resting place that got further and further away as I tried to get nearer. I started pondering on how long it would take for Miroku and Sango-chan to find my starved body, buried deep underground, and that was why I didn't notice the sharp decline of the tunnel until I reached out my hand and felt nothing. With a scream, I tipped forward, sliding down the slimy tunnel to come to a stop at a cross-section, drenched head to foot in indescribable muck.

The cross-section was larger than the tunnel had been, and I was able to stand up without having to hunch over. Three tunnels branched out in front of me, two of them narrowing into tunnels like the one I had just exited, but the one to my left stayed wide and tall, illuminated by a muted red light.

"A train light?" I asked, but the light wasn't coming at me or leaving; it was…pulsating? "A strobe light? Why would there be a strobe light in a tunnel?" Curiosity's chains wrapped around me, and I walked towards the light, slightly hypnotized by the ghostly effects it had on the damp walls. This tunnel was short; it was only about five minutes before I reached the end, but unlike the other tunnels, this one dropped off suddenly, maybe fifty-foot fall down if I fell. I crouched at the end, grasping the ends of the metal so hard that it cut into my skin and blood dripped off it, but I was too shocked and horrified by what I saw from my view-point to pay any attention to it.

It was an underground city, illuminated by pulsating red lights, creating a Gothic overtone to it. Black spires adorned every building, spikes jutting out of the architecture, gargoyles and such gracing the corners. The buildings themselves, not including the spires, were immensely tall, and I realized just how far underground I had traveled to be able to be at fifty-foot incline, and still only reach halfway up the nearest building.

But the worst of it was the populace. Demons, everywhere, flooding the streets, hanging off spires, some even flying like Death's Angles across the sky, the red light bathing them in an eerie glow. One flew disturbingly close to my hiding spot, and I squeaked, pressing my back to the wall. I had to get out of there. I could only sense youkai, and though not all of them were incredibly powerful, I had no weapons, and it was one against thousands.

I scrambled back, but a metallic popping noise stopped me dead in my tracks, and I could only watch in morbid fascination as the bolts that held part of the tunnel together shot off. Then, metal groaned and screeched against metal, and I was falling, falling down fifty-feet in a piece of a metal tunnel, falling into the swarm of demons beneath me, falling to my imminent doom. I crashed down to the floor, any unlucky demons caught beneath me softening the fall a little, but still, pain lanced through my wrist where I had broken it again, and blood pooled off my leg, where a broken piece of metal lodged was in it. Strangely, I didn't feel pain at all in my leg; the metal had most likely sliced through nerves, or I was in shock, but either way, pain or no pain, I was going to pass out and die from severe blood loss if somebody didn't come to save me.

The demons that had momentarily retreated when I had made my explosive entrance edged closer, talking amongst themselves in their own language of squeaks and grunts, some of the smaller imps crawling over me, and the larger ones pulling me roughly out of the metal encasing and out into the open.

"Human," they muttered, and soon it became a chant, something tangible as their hellish voices rose and fell, and the noise swelling, until the word 'human' rang throughout the entire underground network, echoing off the buildings. I added my own weak voice to the chorus, screaming a chant of my own, calling for Kage, for anybody to come and help me. The chanting became frenzied, and as it began to climax, and I began wailing helplessly, it stopped. The sea of demons parted, and, like royalty, a demoness walked down the middle of the part, her icy eyes latched onto mine, making me stop crying from sheer terror.

"Akashisa," the whispered, and the name buzzed through them like electricity. "Akashisa, Akashisa, Akashisa, Akashisa…"

"Human," she spoke to me. "How did you find us?" Caught in the grips of pure terror, I couldn't speak. Her frown deepened. "Answer me, human!"

"I'm sorry!" I choked out in desperation. "I promise I won't tell! Please, just let me go!" She laughed, chills racing up and down my spin, the fine hairs on the back of neck standing straight up.

"Do not fear human," Akashisa said, cruelty playing in her eyes. "I will make sure you don't expose us." She reached down and ripped the metal out of my leg. I screamed as pain coursed through my limbs, white-hot pain that nearly made me faint as blood spurted out like a red river. The demons cheered. "Goodbye is so final. So I shall say goodnight, sweet human." Blood-soaked metal flashed, and my vision erupted into white light, pain exploding throughout my entire body, making my pores weep blood, every nerve in my body sizzling, and I screamed, begging for release, begging for an end.

And then, the pain faded, and I opened my eyes again. Gray surrounded me, any signs of the demons or of their city gone without a trace. I took a tentative step forward, and my foot hit solid ground, even though white mist floated a few inches above the ground, tendrils crawling up my leg like something alive. I shivered, but kept walking.

Something was calling, a haunting melody drifting through the mist; so faint I thought I was imagining it. But as I kept walking, it became louder, and I broke out into a full-out run, not even noticing my leg no longer bore the wound inflicted upon it by the metal, nor did my wrist throb anymore. All that entered my mind was that melody, so sad, so beautiful, and to find out who was singing it. A fleeting thought came to mind, I was leaving something behind, but the melody grew almost insistent, and I banished it, pushing through the last of the fog to a clearing, nearly crashing into a gate from the force of my run.

"_Where am I?"_ I thought, looking around in wonder.

"You are at the Gates of Memories," a voice answered, and I spun around, only to come face to face with chalky white, and black endless caverns. "You have already passed through the Gates of Nothing, and I will guide you through the Sea of Memories," she, though I don't know how I knew it was a she, continued, acting as if she didn't notice my convulsively working mouth. She was horrifying, and I realized that she had no mouth, and yet, I still heard her voice.

"What are you?" I whispered. She turned her eyeless holes to me.

"I am Fate," she said simply, and held out her hand to me, long bony fingers under tightly stretched skin reaching out to me, long hook-like fingernails waiting to snag my skin. I screamed, and tore past her, her cold fingers leaving burn marks on my skin as I struggled to open the gate. "Don't!" she yelled, but it was too late; I had opened the gate, and was racing into the grayness.

But as soon as I put one foot through the gate, my whole world convulsed, and I felt like I was being torn limb from limb, turned upside down and inside out, and I wept with every step I took, as every memory I held whipped past me as I ran, and just when I thought I could take no more, the world righted itself, and I fell to the ground, weeping.

Here too, it was gray, but it was a much darker gray, and more barren, with no mist or gates or horrible figures with terrible hands meant to wrench a soul from a body. I was totally alone, and I walked, having nothing else to do, walked down a winding path that was the only part of the landscape, a seemingly endless path, that just kept going with no horizon in sight.

And all the while, as I walked and walked and walked, I felt eyes upon me. To either side of me was darkness, an impenetrable darkness that held the eyes. More than a little uneasy, I quickened my pace, and nearly keeled over when I heard a rustle behind me. The rustling became louder as whatever it was approached me, and I turned around, my body as taut as a guitar string wound too tight, to meet the eyes.

They belonged to something once human. Its pointed teeth leered at me, jagged canines that were too numerous to fit inside its mouth. It had a woman's head, but its body was that of a beast, a humped back with spikes sticking out of the vertebrae, a long swishing tail, and four legs, each ending in enormous paws with impossibly long claws. It snarled at me, and I whirled around, diving into the darkness to escape, only to find more of these beasts, their claws and fangs tearing at my clothes and hair, whispering to me.

"You'll never escape," they taunted. "You'll become one of us with time. You're a doomed soul, and soon you will accept your fate." They dragged me down, and the beast from the path pushed its paws onto my chest. Its mouth lowered until it was inches away from my throat, and I could smell its reeking breath.

"No!" I screamed, trying to push it off of me, but others clamped down on my arms, restraining me. "Somebody, please! Help me!"

"There is no salvation here!" the one on top of me yelled, its metallic voice grating my ears, placing a paw over my mouth, suffocating me. I struggled, and as darkness sprouted behind my eyes, the pressure from the beast was relieved, and I sat bolt upright, heaving for breath, searching for demons, but thankfully, finding none.

"That was a stupid thing to do," a soft voice admonished me. "Running off into the darkness like that. Actually, it was pretty stupid of you to run into the Sea of Memories like that. You were afraid of Fate, weren't you?" I nodded dumbly, locating the dark silhouette sitting next to me. She laughed, a pretty sound, like water flowing over rocks. "Fate may seem scary, but she's quite nice. Death is the one you have to watch out for." I sat in shock, trying to absorb everything.

"Where am I?" I asked, my words slurred as I tried to move a tongue that was too thick for my mouth, and that was equally as uncooperative. The figure sighed.

"You haven't realized yet, what happened?" she asked, and I noticed the hint of sadness in her voice. "I guess it would be wise to guide you. Can you stand up?" I tried, and nearly fell back down, but the figure caught me in a surprisingly strong grip, and helped steady me before we started walking back to the path.

Or at least, she walked to the path, and I just let her drag me.

"I never told you my name," I said, trying to make conversation.

"You're Kagome!" she supplied, sounding excited for some odd reason. I blinked.

"You know me?"

"I've been watching you for a while now," she answered, and we stepped out of darkness into the grayness. She turned her head away from me, and all I could see was a mass of thick hair, sticking up at the sides, and a long skirt that hung in taters from her body. I tried to see her face, and finally she turned to me, and I gasped in revulsion.

Her entire face was one mass of scar tissue, pink and bubbly, distorting what must have been prettiness into something warped and perverted. She sighed.

"I didn't ask for this, you know," she said pointedly, some of the scar tissue crinkling up as she smiled sadly.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, feeling like the scum of the universe. Who was I to judge?

"It's okay, even I took five years to get used to seeing this every time I saw my reflection."

"What?"

"Kagome." Her voice was serious. "Think hard. You know me, but only from stories. Who else would be this badly scarred?" And then, everything fell into place, and weakness flooded my legs.

"You…You're Rin, aren't you?" She nodded. "But, but you're dead!"

Silence.

"But that means…"

"Kagome…"

"That means that I'm dead too." I was getting hysterical, my hands tugging at my hair. Rin, poor, poor Rin who had been mutilated as she died gently pried my fingers out of my hair, and pulled me up, using her sleeve to wipe tears from my face, and she began to lead me again.

"Physically, yes, you are dead," she explained, pushing me forward at every word. "But technically, you haven't passed the Gates of Death yet, so you're not officially dead."

"But you…"

"I allowed Fate to lead me to Death's door. Besides, there was no way for me to ever consider returning to the Land of the Living. My body was too mangled to do anything with. You, however, only have a piece of metal imbedded in your chest, something your demon friend can take care of in an instant." We were back at the clearing where I had first woken up.

"You mean InuYasha?" I asked, and she nodded.

"He has already found your body, and moved it, distraught though he is. He won't let the monk or the taijiya near you." I closed my eyes, feeling pain again for the first time since entering this void. Rin pushed me towards the mist.

"Go through there."

"He misses you," I said out of impulse, and she stopped for a moment, surprised, before her disfigured face melted into a smile.

"Yes, I'm sure that Sesshoumaru-sama does," she sighed, pain clouding her eyes.

"He was going to make you his mate." I wasn't quite sure why I was telling her this, but I needed to get it off my chest, and if I didn't tell her now, I would never be able to again.

"Yes, I know." I started, shocked. "And I was going to say no."

"What?" My voice came out as a whisper. "Why?"

"Because," she said simply, pushing me again, this time more urgently. "He scared me. I was frightened by his intensity. I knew he would never harm me intentionally, but the ferocity of his anger, and his smothering protectiveness made me fear his love." She said no more, I flopped into the mist, shocked by the words of this girl only two years older than I when she had died.

"I…" I stopped. What could I say?

"Take care, Kagome. Take care of yourself and him."

And then everything exploded into pain and agony as I tried to breathe, blood gurgling in my lungs, choking me in my throat. I felt Kage or InuYasha, I couldn't tell at the moment, grab me, holding me, not caring if he was soaked with my blood, whispering my name over and over again, nearly crying with relief. And I cried, not from pain or relief, but from sadness, and in pity for the lost girl who had died in fright and in self-loathing.

_"Which one Rin? Which one needs my care?"_

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Wow. This is the longest chapter ever written in the history of Yami's writing. Over six thousand words!

Okay, if you want to find out more about Fate and everything that happened after Kagome 'died' go to my profile and look for the link that says – "Fate." The beast was an inside joke on my part; those of you who have read "Love, Madness, Death, and Rebirth" and "Prefre Fresen" should recognize it as Elena, and for those of you who haven't, go to my profile and find the links!

Keki-kage – Shadow Cake. Sorry, that was dry humor on my part, that scene wrote itself out in my head while I was waiting in the bakery for my bread. I saw it and said, "Kage should like that!"

Any guesses as to whom the raw youki power belonged to in the beginning of the chapter?


	17. The Present Epic

Chapter 16: The Present

Morgana Maeve

I'm ba-ack! And with a new penname no less!

Okay, so Kingdom Hearts corrupted my soul for a while, and I couldn't bring myself to tear my personage away from this newly found fandom for me to rape…

…I mean, this newly found fandom for me to enjoy. Yep, to enjoy.

So, I'm so sorry I didn't do any ficcy thing for Halloween this year! I'll make it up with a Christmas ficcy thing, I promise. But I hope you all had a nice Halloween and got oodles of candy! I didn't. I got rocks. No, I didn't, but I did get my head handed to me on a platter for cosplaying as Riku from Kingdom Hearts 2. Partly because of stupid gender rules (!?), but mostly because I'm supposedly too old to cosplay and trick-or-treat, and I wore a purple wig instead of a silver one. Whatever. (But I still say he has purple hair!)

Dedicated to YuniX-2, and I hope that you're still reading this.

Disclaimer – I own all OC's, but all InuYasha and all other affiliated characters belong too the wonderful Rumiko Takahashi. (Wow, it's been so long since I've written that!)

………………………………………………………………………………………………

I was at a loss. A complete and total loss.

It would be so simple, so easy to just flip open the cover and read what I had written, to find out all that was missing from my memory. All I needed to do was flick my wrist, and I would know.

And yet, my hands wouldn't move. My fingers stayed splayed across the cover of the book, tensed, veins popping out beneath the skin, fingertips and nails stark white. My hands could not be brought to budge, my wrists refused to unlock, and I remained motionless, save for the jerky twitches in my chest as I panted, loud and harsh in my ears.

It was a feeling I couldn't describe. For to open the book would mean to know, and to know would mean to _know_. To know everything. There would be no hiding from the truth if I opened the book, I would have to face everything. And that scared me. It scared me badly, because if I lost the gap, I would lose a part of myself.

And really, who was I? I didn't know. I knew myself as the woman who could not remember her sixteenth and seventeenth year. If I didn't have that, what would be left? It wouldn't be Kagome, the woman who lost her memory anymore. It would simply be Kagome.

It was unbearable to be just Kagome, Kagome the ghost. No, I would hide a little longer. I would be Kagome, the woman whose first-born son does not have a father, until the wake was over and the day dead. And the book would hide too, because I had the sneaking suspicion Mitsu would burn that book if it should ever come to his attention it existed.

But where to hide it? I was in the car, and time was running out. I was probably already missed at the wake, and if I dawdled any longer, Mitsu would come out and look for me. Or he would send someone else to. I had to be quick.

The glove compartment was not big enough to hold the diary, and under the carpets was out of the question since it would create a conspicuous book-shaped bump, and I didn't think Mitsu was stupid enough not to notice it. Briefly, I toyed with the idea of keeping the diary with me, hidden in my waistband, but how was I going to sit? And what if it fell out?

Sighing, I rested my head against the headrest of the seat, titling the seat backwards, listening to the rustling and crinkling of the maps stored behind it.

_Maps…_

In seconds, with a quickness that surprised even me, I was out the front door and in the back seat, pulling the jumbled mess of maps out of the front seat's pocket. For once, I was grateful that Mitsu never tried to organize them, and that Ana-chan and Sami-chan were endlessly amused with playing with them, pulling them out, and then sticking them back in halfway, bending paper, and ripping covers by accident. It wouldn't be unbelievable to say that I needed something to do, and that reorganizing the maps would be a perfect way to keep me busy for little while. I could stick the diary somewhere in sea of papers and take it out later to examine at my own pace, without the worry of someone missing me or of being caught.

Surreptitiously, I looked over each shoulder and behind me, and, feeling like a child sneaking a cookie from the cookie jar, pushed the diary as far down as it could go, rearranging the maps to cover the gap in the middle of them. All in all, I was pleased with the way it looked, and even if Sami-chan or Ana-chan decided to play with them, it was doubtful that either one would dig far enough into the mess to find the diary.

If only the wake was as simple to handle. I took a deep breath through my nose to compose myself and stepped out of the car…only to scoot back in moments later, slamming the door behind me. Mitsu and Kikyo were walking out the door, talking to each other. He was nervous, rubbing his palm with his thumb, and constantly looking over his shoulder, as if afraid someone was watching. Kikyo, as was her nature, was cool and collected, her face showing no emotion, Mitsu's apparent unease not unnerving her the slightest. She said something to him, and he bit his lip before replying.

Reading lips was not something I could do, and though I had taught my children that eavesdropping was wrong and should never be done, I felt that the rules could be stretched a little here. Quietly, and staying down low, I opened the door a crack, and placed my ear against it, glad the wind was blowing in my general direction, carrying their words to me.

"Kikyo, I'm worried," Mitsu was saying, tugging at his tie. "I know she said something to Iwata, I know she did!"

"Iwata is taken care of," Kiyo replied coldly. "Anything she told him is buried along with him." What? I listened harder.

"But what if he wrote something down?" Mitsu argued. "And what if the police found it?"

"He was killed before he had time to do any such thing. I made sure of it." There was a numbness snaking up its way up my legs and to my heart.

"You're sure?"

"Absolutely." Mitsu looked placated for a moment, but then he sprang up again, eyes wide and scared.

"What about Kagome herself?" he asked, and the worry was plain in his voice. But it was not worry for me, I could tell. It was worry for himself. "She's remembering too many things; it will only be a matter of time before she remembers all of it. Then where will we be?"

"It will be dealt with when the time comes," Kikyo answered, bored, picking at a perfectly manicured nail. "Besides, it's not like she can do much about it. The Demonic Revolution is over. He has no standing."

"But it is his son."

"That may be, but where has he been all this time? Have you heard from him?"

Mitsu look a little ruffled as he answered, "No."

Kikyo continued. "Then you have nothing to worry about." Mitsu looked as if he were about to argue more, but Kikyo held up her hand, and even if you didn't know her that well, you understood to stop talking. That was Kikyo's power. She commanded respect. "Do not worry, Mitsu, but keep me informed. I would like to know how much more Kagome can remember before she breaks." And then she leaned up and kissed him.

He kissed her back, the same way he used to kiss me.

The Earth shattered. Rearranged itself. Came back together. But it left me somewhere out in space, floating alone with no oxygen to breathe, suffocating slowly, each excruciating second ticking down to the last one.

Mitsu went back inside, Kikyo entered a car and drove away, and I was still floating, dimly aware that Kikyo had bought a new car, a Mercedes, in my daze. What a silly thing to notice, really.

Blackness crept around the corners of my eyes, and it was then that I realized I wasn't breathing. Like a swimmer drowning, my body convulsed, and I wrenched my stiff jaws open, gasping for breath, each one more painful than the next, and tears began to gather behind my eyes.

No, I would not cry, I would not cry. I was not going to be the victim. I would get to the bottom of this. I would understand. I would not be pushed around by my sister, and I would not be left in the dark anymore. Tonight, I was going to read that damned diary, and as soon as I figured out what the hell was going on, be that tonight or tonight a year from now, I would find out who Horeshio's father was.

I might be Kagome, the woman with a broken past, but I was done being Kagome, the victim. Any doubts that had lingered about reading the diary had died along with her. Full of conviction, I sat up and looked over to the funeral parlor, scanning the entrance for Mitsu, and nearly fell down again in shock.

For there, in the window, _was Kikyo, looking at the spot where she and Mitsu had just stood in disgust, eyes narrowed_. I blinked, and she was gone, and in her place, was a woman, slightly angled to the window, her face almost that of Kikyo's. They had the same pallor and same face shape, and in the gloom of the lighting, I had mistaken her for my sister. I sighed in relief and placed a hand over my heart, pressing hard to will it to stop beating so heavily.

The rest of the wake I went through in a daze. I said hello to people I didn't recognize, nodded at compliments said about Great-Aunt Kaede, smiled painfully at grieving relatives, allowed Mitsu to hold my shoulders, lit my candle and said my prayers, avoiding looking at the body in the casket. People returned my smile, walking on tenterhooks around me, carefully choosing their words, lest I break out in a hysterical fit. Mitsu grinned at me and hugged me, Sami-chan and Ana-chan fidgeted in youthful unrest, and Horeshio stared up at me through dark eyes with amber flecks, keenly aware that something was not right, yet smart enough not to mention anything. But I noticed that he was very cool to Mitsu, staying by my side, talking to him only when absolutely necessary.

The drive home was silent, Ana-chan and Sami-chan tired, Horeshio unfeeling. No one mentioned Shinju. My heart was racing as we pulled into the driveway, my hands clenched in my lap, balling my skirt up.

"I'm bringing the maps upstairs," I said, pulling them carefully from their grave in the seat. Mitsu raised his eyebrows.

"Why?" he asked. "It's not like we actually use them."

"They're messy," I said, nodding to the jumble in my hands. "And the need to be organized. It'll make the car seem a little neater, don't you think?" He shrugged and muttered something about women and cleaning, but let the subject drop. He asked if I wanted help, but I declined, saying that he needed to work tomorrow and that he needed his sleep. I would call in sick tomorrow. They would understand.

"Are you sure you don't want to come to bed," he asked one final time, heading for the bedroom. I shook my head, keeping my eyes rooted to the television, knowing that if I turned around and looked at him, the words I had buried in my throat would come free, and that would ruin everything. There was a pause, and I was sure he was waiting for me to turn around, but when I didn't, I heard the door close. Finally.

But there was one more distraction that kept me from my diary that night, and one that kept me from sleeping for weeks. I had the remote in my hand, ready to turn off the little television in the kitchen and get to work on 'organizing the maps' when a news report flashed on screen.

"This just in," the reporter said, using that horrible cliché and faked sympathetic voice that let everyone know trouble was at hand. "Police have just discovered a car while dragging the bottom of the Akane Ren. The body of the victim was found inside, apparently still strapped in. Officials are not making any statements at the moment, but they do believe that foul play was the cause of this death, as the driver side of the car was dented, consistent with a heavy impact. Police have identified the body as this woman, and if you have any information, please call the number on your screen. The autopsy report will become available at an undisclosed time." The picture and number stayed on the screen, and I collapsed into a chair, hand over mouth, barely repressing the scream that was building in my chest.

Shinju smiled happily back at me through the screen.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Akane Ren – Red Water. It's a fake river I made up.

I missed the birthday for this fic, and I am so sorry for that! Happy belated birthday, 'Delving…!'

I have no excuse to not updating except that Kingdom Hearts 2 stole my soul, but since my television is broken, all I have left is fanfiction, so hopefully updates will be a little less infrequent.

Ah, yes, all of you, go to your nearest bookstore and buy the novel, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I command you all to read it. Do it now.

And while you're at it, read and review!


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